Ethereum: What is NTime rolling/nonce range? And what miners support it?

Ethereum: What is NTime Rolling/Nonce Range?

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, recently introduced a major improvement to its consensus algorithm: NTime rolling and nonce range. This improvement aims to provide better performance, energy efficiency, and security for miners using it.

What are nonces?

In traditional proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, miners compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions on the blockchain. A “nonce” is a random number generated by a miner to try to solve these puzzles before another miner finds one that solves them more efficiently than the others.

What is NTime Rolling?

NTime rolling refers to a new consensus algorithm developed by Ethereum that replaces the traditional proof-of-work (PoW). This algorithm allows miners to send blocks (transactions) without having to generate errors. Instead, the number of blocks (without a range) is dynamically determined based on the height and complexity of the current block.

What does NTime Rolling offer?

By eliminating the need for one-time generation, NTime rolling offers several benefits:

• Improved performance: With fewer computational resources required to solve complex mathematical puzzles, miners can complete transactions faster.

• Reduced energy consumption: Reduced energy consumption is due to the reduced number of one-time attempts required to confirm transactions.

• Increased security: By reducing reliance on one-time generation, the algorithm is more resistant to exploitation and attacks.

Miners that support NTime Rolling

Not all miners currently support NTime rolling, as it requires significant changes to their mining hardware and software. However, several major mining pools have announced support for this new consensus algorithm, including:

• Slush Pool

• F2Pool

• Antpool

Miner Upgrade Instructions

To upgrade your pool to support NTime rolling, follow these steps:

• Check your pool documentation: Review your pool documentation or contact their customer support team for specific instructions.

• Update your mining software: Make sure your mining software is compatible with NTime rolling and has the necessary updates installed.

While NTime rolling offers many benefits, it is important to note that this new consensus algorithm may negatively impact older miners that rely on traditional Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithms. Therefore, it is imperative for these miners to update their equipment and software before migrating to NTime rolling.

The Ethereum network is currently still transitioning to NTime rolling, which means that there may be some initial fluctuations in block rewards and transaction fees due to this change. However, as more miners adopt NTime rolling, these issues are expected to resolve themselves over time.