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When the London hard fork was being discussed a common misconception that was allowed to run rampant was that this upgrade to the Ethereum Network was going to stabilize and thus lower gas prices. After crossing the $1 BILLION worth of Ethereum I feel this is a good time to step back and see what all this upgrade has done to the network. My initial thoughts I have to say were pretty negative but the more I did think about it the more I realized it was more balanced then I wanted to admit to myself.
The Good
Like I mentioned not everything has been bad and I am one who wants to always hear the good news first so I am going, to begin with, the positives I have seen using the blockchain. Before the fork, it was typical to face CRAZY fees during normal business hours in the United States. I remember seeing estimated transaction costs from METAMASK that would be as high as 0.30 Ether... At the current price that would be $1,050 USD! The fork brought these crazy amounts down and gas being in the 300's is something I have not seen since the update and it seems to go up to the mid 100's at its worst.
Besides the price stability if you are an Ethereum HODLer the fork has really really benefitted you! The price of Ethereum went from being around $2,200 on a good day to hitting ATH of $4,000! This has been really beneficial for hodlers like I said not so much for those who trade the crypto! Deflationary pressure is something that I would argue is also very beneficial for the blockchain as the burn happens with each transaction so the busier the blockchain the more that is going to get burned.
Lastly, the miner payout system is one that is super important as it helps miners begin the transition to not mining anymore. Their profits have been cut into by this and it is a huge step I'm moving to Eth 2.0 when mining will cease. This upgrade overall was very much one that sets the town for future updates and what they will do to facilitate the transition from PoW to PoS.
The Bad
The bad is pretty much what people have come to realize when dealing with the blockchain. While the price is much more stable for transactions it is still very expensive. For someone like me who traded or interacted I should say with the blockchain during "off" periods, the cost has exploded in my eyes. I have caught myself though realizing that this price explosion upward is really two-sided as while the amount of gas has increased also the price of Ether has gone up and so it is a double whammy to me! It is a drawback for sure of the fork and has pretty much sidelined me using the blockchain unless I have been moving enough value to justify it in my eyes.
Ironically I also own a publically traded stock that mines Ethereum and Bitcoin so the mining process getting affected has hurt me on that front as well. While the company does have a plan for when Eth 2.0 hits right now they are still mining Ethereum so it is affected. This might not be entirely due to the fork but the MetaMask update that rolled out after the fork has made it very easy to adjust what you want to pay for the transaction and gives you plenty of warning if your amount is too low and becomes likely to fail! This is important for those who are trying to further learn more advanced ways to utilize the blockchain and having this set up is nice.
Overall
I have a love-hate relationship with this fork due to the mix of good and bad. I had a good system with trading during the off periods so with those now gone and the general price up I hate it. Not having to worry about transactions failing though is super super nice and something I am very happy to deal with! Plus it is a good step in the right direction for Eth 2.0's future rollout!
