Today, some pretty intriguing Ethereum crypto news is circulating. As we mentioned in a recent piece, a London Hard Fork update to the Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) network has been set for this week. However, unlike was previously reported, the date appears to have been moved one day later, to Aug. 5.
Today, an important AllCoreDevs blog update indicated that the official time for this update will be 3 a.m. PST on Aug. 5. While this is just a few hours delayed from what otherwise appeared to be an Aug. 4 launch, investors in ETH have been selling today. Currently, ETH tokens are trading down 6% at the time of writing on this news.
Hey, a delay is a delay. However, this movement in ETH has caught me by surprise, given the steepness of today’s decline. Among the top eight cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, ETH is down the most at the time of writing.
That said, let’s take a look at what this update is all about, for investors who are interested.
What’s This Ethereum Crypto News All About?
This EIP-1559 update is part of the larger-scale network upgrade called London Hard Fork. This update is scheduled for Thursday, and will overhaul the existing methods used to reward Ethereum miners for validating blocks. Transaction fees will become more predictable as a result, which developers believe will make the network easier to use.
Additionally, a key tenet of this update investors are focusing on is the fact that tokens will be burned, or destroyed, as a result. Ethereum has been an inflationary cryptocurrency for some time. Unlike other crypto peers that have their total number of tokens capped, Ethereum has been minting new tokens all along as part of the compensation scheme to reward miners for doing their thing. This update will change all of that.
What does that mean for investors in ETH?
Well, it’s broadly bullish. Like any other capped asset or commodity, restricted supply generally leads to higher prices. Accordingly, for investors, this is an update that has been highly anticipated for some time. Perhaps today’s announced delay is a signal that investors are impatient and want to see results now.
However, all indications are that, should this update go over well, the upside for ETH is greatly improved. Moving away from an auction system for transactions to be processed to a base-fee model should stabilize the cryptocurrency. Added stability and reduced supply are certainly two things ETH investors have to cheer for today.
On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
