Ethereum Constantinople Hard Fork – ALL You Need to Know – Explained Simply

The Reward Adjustment looks and smells like a legislative rider. The immediate problem is the difficulty bomb, which is designed to reduce the power of miners to reject a hard fork to proof-of-stake (PoS). Without a postponement (given that PoS isn't ready), the entire Ethereum network grinds to a halt.

Someone is clearly concerned about Ethereum's high rate of money growth and wants to do something about it. Miners are unlikely to agree to a subsidy cut by itself, but are more likely to do so if it's part of a package that avoids network gridlock.

The complexity of Ethereum underneath its veneer of slick websites and trendy conferences is breathtaking. Each update to fundamental parameters such as difficulty or money supply expands an already sizable attack surface and risks accidental show-stoppers.

At best, these seat-of-your-pants adjustments to fundamental parameters take the SS Ethereum ever further from the land of "code is law" toward the far less interesting land of "politics is law."