According to a discussion at the 151st Ethereum Core Developers Meeting, held on December 8, the core programmers set a tentative deadline of March 2023 for the Shanghai hard fork. Also, developers will target May or June 2023 to release the Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP) 4844 update, which will introduce proto-danksharding to the network.
Although the long-awaited upgrade to the Proof of Stake Merge was completed on September 15, staked Ether (stETH) is currently locked up on the Ethereum Beacon Chain. The token is created by the decentralized finance protocol Lido, with about 3.5 million stETH ($4.48 billion) in circulation. Following the Shanghai update, stETH users will be able to withdraw their funds along with any applicable staking rewards for validating network transactions. The Ethereum Foundation said it structured the upgrades this way to “simplify and maximize focus on a successful transition to proof-of-stake.”
After the hard fork, the EIP-4844 update is designed to introduce a new data-blob-transaction prototype previously invented by developers on February 21, 2022.. Currently, Layer 2 technologies such as optimism rollups can move Ethereum network computing and storage off-chain to improve scalability from 10x to 100x. The developers anticipate that by introducing large portable packages that can hold cheaper data in Ethereum transactions, it can improve rollup capacity by up to 100x. However, while the upgrade will reduce transaction fees on Layer 2 solutions, it will not affect Ethereum gas fees.
At @EthereumDenver we hacked together a full data-blob-transaction prototype! (aka mini-danksharding)
Data blobs are the first milestone towards full ethereum sharding, enabling rollups like @optimismPBC to grow 100x in capacity.
Here’s a tweet thread about the prototype
— proto.eth (@protolambda) February 20, 2022
At @EthereumDenver, we hacked a complete data blob transaction prototype together! (also known as mini-dunksharding)
Data blobs are the first milestone toward full Ethereum sharding, allowing aggregations like @optimismPBC to grow 100x in capacity.
Here’s a tweet thread about the prototype.
Last December, co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared that his ultimate goal was for Ethereum to act as a simple base layer while users feel “totally comfortable storing their assets in a ZK.” [zero-knowledge]-rollup running an EVM [Ethereum Virtual Machine] complete”. Buterin also cautioned that sharding and data availability sampling are “complex technologies” and would take years of auditing and refining to implement.
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