Reasons behind the Failure of Ethereum Constantinople Testnet Upgrade

By Chetna Phour

Recently Ethereum released its Constantinople on Ropsten but miners failed to upgrade their software. According to the release, manager for the Ethereum client parity, Afri Schoedon, the reason behind the stall was a lack of miners on the Ropsten network to push the newly upgraded blockchain forward. Afri said that “The fact that all clients are stuck means that there is no valid Constantinople block yet.”

In order to mine the Constantinople activated blocks there was a need for boosting the upgraded Ropsten nodes or computer servers. Several Ethereum proponents worked to resolve the issue. Although all issues with Ethereum Constantinople have been resolved, below are the takeaways which can provide a valuable insight into how things need to be handled in the future.

Lack of upgraded nodes

The testnet upgrade comes in the form of dealing with network nodes. Ethereum Ropsten testnet is done with a few network nodes. Initiating the hard fork is a problem until those nodes to the latest software commence the Constantinople. Once the Constantinople ready nodes came to Ropsten, the network starts to progress. Lack of nodes can hint at a lack of interest for the upgradation of the hard fork.

Support from miners

It usually happens that there are fewer miners on the testnet of cryptocurrencies than the live net. This is normal because testnet coin does not have any value and the network requires more efforts to ensure transactions can be processed. During the introduction of hard fork upgrade, lack of active miners can be a problem for the upgradation.

One of the main reasons behind the failure of the Constantinople upgrade is there are not enough miners to move the network forward. This can be handled by generating more genuine interest in the upgradation of the network.

Take care of holidays

Releasing the testnet on weekends or on holidays is terrible because very few people monitor the crypto industry on weekends. Lack of interest also affects the testnet as a whole. Weekends and holidays are not an ideal time, especially for major network upgradations.

Now the waiting time is over and the Ropsten testnet is moving again but it has given a lesson to the crypto industry.