Ethereum’s (ETH) major upgrade, the Constantinople hard fork, is soon underway as Ethereum block height 7,080,000 is quickly approaching and is expected to be reached on Wednesday, January 16.
A magnitude of exchanges have already announced support for the long-awaited hard fork, and some major US exchanges have just joined the list.
Coinbase and Kraken Support Ethereum’s Constantinople Upgrade
2 of the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Kraken, are the latest to confirm support for Ethereum’s Constantinople hard fork. Both exchanges announced via Twitter that they will be supporting the non-contentious fork, with Coinbase announcing their support first.
Coinbase intends to support the upcoming Constantinople Ethereum (ETH) network upgrade. Please see our support article for more information: https://t.co/BdWibitiGj
— Coinbase (@coinbase) January 14, 2019
Coinbase support also released a short post highlighting details on what to expect leading up to and during the Constantinople hard fork.
Most notably from the post, Coinbase staff wrote:
“Upon commencement of the upgrade, for security and technical purposes, we will temporarily pause sending and receiving ETH across all of our trading platforms until the upgrade completes and we confirm security of the network.”
Following Coinbase’s announcement, Kraken support assured followers they will be supporting the upgrade as well.
They also stated they do not expect any new coins to be credited to ETH holders, as the hard fork is expected to be non-contentious, with the old chain quickly becoming obsolete.
Hello,
Kraken will be supporting this. We expect this will be a non-contentious fork. No new coins will be credited to ETH holders as we expect the old chain will quickly become obsolete.
Best,
Kraken— Kraken Support (@krakensupport) January 14, 2019
Ethereum (ETH) Market Reaction to the Upcoming Hard Fork
Since the Ethereum Constantinople hard fork is expected to be non-contentious, no new coins will be awarded to ETH holders. Therefore, cryptocurrency investors are not rushing in to buy up ETH, as more than likely they will not be receiving additional coins for doing so.
Therefore, Ethereum’s hard fork is far different from the controversial Bitcoin Cash hard fork. Where the fork gave birth to 2 competing chains that are now called Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV. These 2 blockchains were fighting for dominance after the fork, but Bitcoin Cash ultimately came out on top.
Furthermore, though Ethereum’s upcoming hard fork is non-contentious, the price of ETH has experienced a major short-term run-up to the hard fork. A month ago, ETH was trading at just $84 and is now hovering around $130, signaling a 35% increase in price.
However, whether or not ETH’s increase in price is due to the upcoming hard fork is undetermined. Multiple coins saw substantial rises in price around the same time as they bounced after reaching yearly lows.
Final Thoughts
The Ethereum Constantinople hard fork marks a significant milestone for the Ethereum network, as it plays a key role in the migration from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithm.
Ethereum developers must implement a number of technical improvements before the network’s full transformation, but the hard fork brings them one step closer.
What do you think of the Ethereum Constantinople hard fork? Should the Ethereum foundation be using a different name for such upgrades to avoid confusion among crypto investors looking for free coins? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
