On Jan 12, Polygon announced its intent to execute a hardfork on its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain on Jan 17, 2023 – an exciting development for developers and users alike. This ‘upgrade’ promises a streamlined experience that will elevate user satisfaction.
Polygon recently divulged more information about their upcoming hard fork in a blog post on their website, emphasizing that it will assist the network in achieving better performance by eliminating gas spikes and preventing reorgs.
Polygon’s Hardfork aims to make gas fees more stable and affordable
The Polygon PoS chain is the most prominent Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, allowing users and developers to experience faster transactions with low gas fees while still enjoying the reliability of the Ethereum network.
Unfortunately, Polygon often experiences a large amount of network usage, which leads to an abrupt and drastic increase in gas fees, referred to as “gas spikes.” While increased gas fees are typical during periods of high activity, these “spikes” remain an exception regarding blockchain operations.
To address this predicament, Polygon has proposed a hardfork that will double the “BaseFeeChangeDenominator” from 8 to 16. This modification would reduce the percentage change of the base gas fee from 12.5% to 6.25%.
Through this upgrade, users can expect a boost in gas fees during high on-chain activity. However, with the new system, drastic changes should be reduced significantly.
The proposed hardfork will help stabilize chain reorganizations
Reorgs and chain reorganizations can pose a severe threat to blockchain networks, as they indefinitely create two parallel versions of the network. During this period, there is an increased risk that transactions may be duplicated or even lost altogether. Furthermore, these reorgs make blockchains significantly more vulnerable to potential cyberattacks than in ordinary circumstances.
To preempt the likelihood of reorganizations on the Polygon PoS Chain, its developers are committed to diminishing block validation times and ensuring effective transaction processing.
As stated in the blog post, the upcoming hardfork will drastically decrease the network’s sprint duration from 64 blocks to 16 blocks. Also, new blocks can now be created within 32 seconds instead of 128 seconds with current block production times.
It is essential to know that the suggested polygon hardfork still needs validation from its network members before it can be enacted.
To facilitate a smooth transition before the hardfork on Jan 17, Polygon has declared that all its existing infrastructure providers must upgrade their nodes in preparation. Moreover, they have promised that dApps operations will not be affected by any upcoming changes to the network.
As reported by Polygon, neither MATIC holders nor network delegators are required to take any action regarding the proposed hardfork.
