Too Long; Didn't Read
In January Ethereum was<a href="https://www.ccn.com/ethereum-price-plunges-as-developers-postpone-constanti/" target="_blank"> forced to postpone its hotly anticipated Constantinople upgrade</a> at the last minute, in response to a security flaw that could have allowed for smart contracts to be exploited for additional funds. ETH’s price immediately felt the pressure from this, dropping 11% in a few hours after a strong rally to that point. Much optimism had surrounded the update, in particular the “thirdening”, or reduction to mining rewards of 33%. This would have reduced Ethereum’s inflation rate along with introducing code optimization and reduced fees for smart contract storage.