Key Points
- The Ethereum mainnet has successfully implemented the Dencun upgrade, introducing “Basic Rollup scaling”.
- Following this, the Ethereum development community is now focusing on implementing Verkle trees and history expiry.
The Dencun upgrade was successfully implemented on the Ethereum mainnet, introducing the “Basic Rollup scaling”. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin celebrated this milestone in a post on Warpcast.
Rollups operate by processing transactions off the Ethereum mainnet while consolidating numerous transactions into a single one before presenting it to the main chain for confirmation. This method, known as “Basic rollup scaling”, enhances network throughput while maintaining security standards. It does this by using the main chain to ensure data availability and establish consensus.
Next Steps for Ethereum
Now, the Ethereum development community is focusing on implementing Verkle trees and history expiry. Verkle trees, an evolution of Merkle trees, promise more efficient and compact proofs, reducing the data storage requirements for validators. On the other hand, history expiry aims to remove old transaction data, addressing the issue of “state bloat” and facilitating the operation of full nodes for users.
A few weeks ago, Vitalik Buterin discussed the functionality of Verkle Trees, which would allow staking nodes to run with “near-zero hard disk space and sync nearly instantly.”
About Verkle Trees
Verkle trees, while similar to Merkle trees in structure, introduce a significant innovation with the use of vector commitments, a distinct type of hash passed to sub-nodes. This approach promises enduring benefits for the Ethereum network.
One primary benefit of Verkle trees is in steering Ethereum towards statelessness. This would mean nodes verifying blocks without the need to store Ethereum’s state data.
Verkle trees enable smaller proof sizes, facilitating the embedding of proofs within each block of the Ethereum blockchain. As a result, nodes can verify blocks using the data contained within the blocks themselves.
The implementation of Verkle trees will unlock a range of new functionalities. These include reduced hardware requirements for running Ethereum nodes and fostering decentralization of the network. Additionally, new nodes can join the network easily, while quickly syncing with the existing infrastructure.
While the development of Verkle trees is ongoing, integrating them into the Ethereum protocol requires several changes. These include adopting a new data structure for preserving the network’s state, a revamped gas accounting model, the introduction of new cryptography primitives, devising a strategy for transitioning Ethereum’s state from Merkle to Verkle trees, and incorporation of new fields at the block level.
