Ethereum Classic (ETC) may delay upcoming “Atlantis” update

Ethereum Classic’s open-source developer team have failed to decide on whether to move forward with the upcoming system-wide code upgrade. Developers have been considering to integrate the upgrade, dubbed “Atlantis,” a set of 10 EIPs or Ethereum Improvement Proposals, into the protocol since February. Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been making more significant efforts to introduce changes to the network that would ease the interoperability between ETC and Ethereum. Atlantis is reportedly the first of two protocol upgrades or hard forks focused at incorporating the EIPs which have been activated already on ethereum. Bob Summerwill, the executive director of Ethereum Classic Cooperative, wrote in an email newsletter: 

“These upgrades would bring ETC up to date with ETH’s latest protocol, making migration of dapps between the networks much easier.”

Ethereum Classic is expected to come to a final decision about the contents of the upgrade and its planned activation for mid-September. However, some developers are uncertain about including one particular proposal – EIP 170 – into the upgrade. If EIP 170 is implemented, it will put a fixed cap on the size of a smart contract code that can be run in a single transaction. The idea was pitched by ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin who believed that a cap was necessary to prevent specific attack scenarios on the blockchain. 

Both Lusardi and Ethereum Classic community member “MikO” opposed saying that this change doesn’t have to be a hard fork.

“I don’t like the idea of having to change a hard limit in the future if we desire more complex contracts. If everyone feels setting this limit in this way is the way to proceed, then I agree with the majority,” wrote MikO on the Ethereum Classic discord channel.

 However, both Lusardi and MikO insisted that EIP 170 should not hinder the progression of the upgrade.