Buterin helping to strategize against Ethereum 51% attack possibility

Ethereum developers recently proposed EIP-1559, a network change intended to combat the network’s increasing transaction fees. The step, which is set to be in effect in July of this year, will send a portion of any transaction fee to the Ethereum network. The ether so allocated would be burned, lowering the number of coins in circulation.

This move would also limit the number of incentives provided to the network’s miners, causing others to protest. Since then, a vocal group of participants has advocated for a demonstrative network takeover, which could jeopardize the network’s protection. The group, on the other hand, seems to have no plans to overthrow Ethereum, claiming that all they want to do is demonstrate the viability of such an attack. Since then, Buterin and other Ethereum developers have been planning defensive efforts.

“The goal of this document is to describe a mechanism by which a merge can happen quickly, with little modification to either the ethpow or beacon clients,” said Buterin. This move would effectively speed the network’s transition to Ethereum 2.0.

“Like clockwork, the Ethereum community has quickly organized potential solutions to this possible 51% attack, with Vitalik leading the charge,” Status reported on March 12 in a blog post that Buterin’s framework was written. “Vitalik describes how Ethereum can perform a ‘quick merge’ by rapidly moving from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake with limited changes required to Ethereum clients,” the post said.

According to cointelegraph.com, Ethereum 2.0 is a scaling project aimed at transitioning the network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus, which has been in the works for years.

According to the Status post, Buterin’s newly suggested framework will speed up the network’s mining consensus transition by working out the kinks and specifics of the system after the event. According to the post and Buterin’s write-up, the merger could pave the way for more flexible development on Ethereum 2.0.

According to the Status blog, the EIP-1559 opposition party has already gathered enough technological power to carry out their 51 percent attack, according to the group’s web page at the time of the blog post.