Ethereum Constantinople & St. Petersburg Hard Fork
- Ethereum
- DeFi Protocol
Ethereum successfully activated its Constantinople and St. Petersburg hard forks at block 7,280,000 on February 28, 2019 (originally scheduled for February 25). The dual upgrade implemented five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that reduced gas costs for smart contract operations, optimized blockchain performance, and decreased the block reward from 3 ETH to 2 ETH. The fork had been delayed from January after a critical security vulnerability (EIP-1283) was discovered, requiring the additional St. Petersburg fork to disable the flawed code. This upgrade was a crucial stepping stone toward Ethereum's eventual transition to proof-of-stake.