Polygon Hard Fork Successfully Lowers Gas Fees and Reduces Reorgs

• Polygon, an Ethereum-scaling project, successfully completed a hard fork designed to reduce instances of spiking gas fees and disruptive chain reorganizations known as “reorgs”.
• The two proposals included in the hard fork were put forth in December, with 87% of Polygon validator teams voting for approval.
• The new mechanism aims to keep gas prices low when there is a lot of activity on the network.

Polygon, an Ethereum-scaling project, recently completed a hard fork in order to reduce gas fee spikes and disruptive reorganizations of the blockchain, also known as “reorgs”. The upgrade was implemented on Tuesday, with two proposals from December being voted on by the Polygon validator teams. Ultimately, 87% of the validator teams voted for approval, representing a significant majority of the active validators at the time.

The first proposal seeks to address the mechanism which sets the gas fees. Gas fees are a kind of tax paid by users in order to transact on the blockchain. By changing this mechanism, the project hopes to keep gas prices low even when there is a lot of activity on the network. This will make it more affordable for users to access the network, as well as make it more attractive to new users.

The second proposal was designed to reduce the instances of chain reorganizations, also known as reorgs. Reorgs can be very disruptive, as they can lead to the reversal of transactions, causing users to lose access to their funds or have their transactions not go through. By reducing the chance of reorgs occurring, the project hopes to make the network more reliable and secure.

The hard fork was implemented without incident, and both proposals were approved by the majority of validator teams. This is a positive development for the project, as it demonstrates that the network is capable of implementing upgrades without disruption. It also shows that the project is able to respond to user feedback, as the proposals were put forth in response to user complaints about gas fee spikes and reorgs.

In the future, the project will continue to look for ways to make the network more accessible and secure. The successful deployment of this hard fork is a step in the right direction, and it is likely that Polygon will continue to make improvements in the future.