Add the task to attempt to increase blocks

tasks/evm-increase-blocks.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import {task} from "hardhat/config"
+import {ethers} from "ethers"
+
+const BLOCK_PERIOD = 12 // seconds
+
+task(
+    "evm-increase-blocks",
+    "Helper task to increase the block number in the current EVM"
+)
+    .addOptionalPositionalParam(
+        "blocks",
+        "How many blocks to increase by (defaults to 1)"
+    )
+    .setAction(async (taskArgs, hre) => {
+        const {network} = hre
+
+        const provider = network.provider
+        const blocks = parseInt(taskArgs.blocks ?? "1")
+
+        const currBlock = ethers.BigNumber.from(
+            await provider.send("eth_blockNumber")
+        )
+        console.log(`Previous block pre-update: ${currBlock}`)
+
+        await provider.send("evm_increaseBlocks", [
+            ethers.utils.hexValue(blocks) // hex encoded number of blocks to increase
+        ])
+        // helpfully increase the time by 12s per block as well
+        await provider.send("evm_increaseTime", [
+            ethers.utils.hexValue(BLOCK_PERIOD * blocks) // hex encoded number of seconds
+        ])
+
+        const newBlock = ethers.BigNumber.from(
+            await provider.send("eth_blockNumber")
+        )
+        console.log(`New block post-update: ${newBlock}`)
+    })