The Ethereum community is working on an ambitious plan with the idea of improving the experience of its users, who have been suffering from congestion and high fees. The project is a transition process that aims to turn their blockchain into a powerful virtual processing machine that they have called Serenity, although popularly it is also known as Ethereum 2.0
After seven years in continuous development , the network has grown to such an extent that it has fallen short of the high demand for transactions, including the most complex ones that interact with smart contracts.
Today the Ethereum blockchain processes between 3 and 4 times more transactions than Bitcoin, although with less security. However, still is not enough to satisfy the increasing demands of the users without avoiding congestion.
As the congestion of the network, the value of transaction fees is also increased, necessary for miners to use their computational power to process them.
These fees have even become a pain point for users, such as It happened in September last year when Uniswap announced the launch of its UNI governance token. At that time, the cost of Ethereum commissions skyrocketed, so many users demanded effective solutions.
The plan to achieve this is to make the Ethereum blockchain more scalable, while maintaining fundamental principles of its ecosystem, such as security and decentralization.
Part of the Serenity plan consists of increasing the processing speed of the network, going from the 15 transactions per second (TPS) that it currently processes, to thousands of TPS in the future.
To process a large amount of data without reloading either part, the plan contemplates dividing the entire information load into smaller pieces or chunks. Achieving this will mean a whole process of changes that includes a new concept regarding the economy that revolves around security of the network and, at the same time, a migration towards a more sustainable ecosystem.
Therefore, all This transformation process involves leaving behind the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm to transition to the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism.
It means that Ethereum will abandon mining. This includes getting rid of the mechanism that requires computational power to validate transactions and produce new blocks in the network, to adopt a protocol that requires the possession of cryptocurrencies.
In any case, this transition from PoW to PoS is not a new idea in Ethereum, on the contrary, it is a concept that was handled since its inception, as mentioned, since then, by its co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
In any case, in the following paragraphs we will break down all the phases that make up the transition process that aims to turn Ethereum into a faster, safer and cheaper network. A metamorphosis that is already underway since last year when the Beacon Chain was activated, the name by which the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain is known.
An A a: the phases leading up to Ethereum 2.0
Phase 0: turning on the Beacon Chain to build the route
Phase 0 of the Serenity plan was launched on December 1 of last year, with the activation of the Beacon Chain or chain of beacons, as reported by CriptoNoticias at that time. It was at that moment that the first step was taken on the path towards the transition from PoW to PoS consensus.
To better understand how this process began, we can point out that the plan drawn up with the Beacon Chain contemplates running the proof-of-stake protocol separately, but at the same time in parallel with Ethereum’s PoW chain. To illustrate, let’s imagine that both blockchains (Beacon Chain and main chain of Ethereum) are two planes that will line up in flight to transfer cargo.
It means that the whole process happens on the fly, with the Beacon Chain maintaining the set of validators ( new network protectors) and their balances. Essentially, this chain manages the new proof-of-stake protocol.
The activation of phase 0 depended on covering the quota of 524,288 ethers (ETH) required in the corresponding smart contract for the registration of validators, that is, of those who deposited 32 ETH, which is the requirement to activate their own validation node.
Each validator will be responsible for storing information, processing transactions and adding new blocks to the chain. Carrying out this task, necessary to keep the ecosystem safe, provides rewards.
If a validator does not comply with the established rules, they are penalized by subtracting part or all of their deposit, thereby running the risk of being removed from logs as validator.
Phase 1: a load divided into multiple train cars running in parallel
As the sheet is planned Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, phase 1 should be activated sometime this year, however it is subject to change based on how quickly the developers work progresses.
Yes, Phase 1 is characterized by the fragmentation of the Ethereum network into 64 pieces called shard chains or fragment chain. This division will allow the processing of multiple transactions simultaneously.
As is currently the case, the Ethereum blockchain processes the transactions it contains one block at a time, while the rest are kept on hold, which causes a delay and accumulation of multiple transactions awaiting confirmation. To alleviate this bottleneck, in this phase of Ethereum’s evolution, large chunks of computational work will be split into smaller pieces with the idea of operating alongside each other to win. speed.
In that sense, you are shard chains will be the ones that promote future scalability in the network, since with parallel block processing, the accumulation of transactions carried out will be alleviated with greater speed. In addition, with this new system, it is expected that transaction fees will be reduced.
Communication between shard chains will be provided through the cross-links that will link the entire system. They are like cross links that fulfill the function of detecting in what state each fragment is so that the chain randomly selects the validators of each of these pieces of data.
The fragmentation phase can be associated with a train station with an infinite number of wagons. Each locomotive will be a chain of 64 shard chains and the wagons will be the fragments in which the transactions will be accumulated.
The following graph shows an image that reflects the structure of Ethereum 2.0, with the Beacon Chain (blue) at the center of the ecosystem and around she the shard chains (aquamarine). The central chain will communicate with the additional 64 through cross links (blue lines). The birth of each block of fragments is reflected in yellow.
Phase 1.5: merge between PoW-based chain with PoS
Phase 1.5 represents the definitive moment in which the merger will occur (or merge ) between the inherited chain PoW and the chain based on PoS. For this stage of the project, the blockchain that uses the proof of work will be transformed into one of the 64 shard chains to connect to the Beacon Chain and provide all the history it has stored since its creation.
Next, the Beacon Chain will manage and coordinate the validators and will assume the role of pilot of the project by connecting with several chains of fragments.
Phase 2.0: Structured blockchain with smart contracts enabled
This phase represents the peak of the plan in which the Ethereum blockchain must complete its transition and to become a fully functional ecosystem al with all its new implementation activated. To achieve this, chunk strings will also go through their own conversion process to stop being simple data containers and become structured strings with the ability to support smart contracts.
That is why this stage marks the introduction of smart contracts in each fragment of the new chain. Also, this phase introduces the concept of what is called the ‘runtime environment’, which developers will use to create their own transaction processing methods.
Also, in this phase, the virtual machine Ethereum, which is responsible for processing contract code, will be replaced by Ethereum Web Assembly (eWASM) that will provide efficiency gains in transaction processing and contract execution.
The role of the Beacon Chain: the heart of Ethereum 2.0
As we have mentioned, the Beacon Chain plays a fundamental role in the transformation process that the eco is going through Ethereum system. It not only serves as the basis in the transition from PoW to PoS protocol, but it will also facilitate communication between fragment chains and cross-links.
On the other hand, the Beacon Chain will play a key role in coordinating fragmentation and validator network. However, it will not be a substitute for the current chain, as it will have no link with smart contracts, although will later become the heart or key of Ethereum 2.0.
With each phase, this Beacon Chain will take on the challenge or the new way to keep Ethereum safe. As a first step, it involves depositing 32 ETH in the corresponding smart contract to activate the validation software to everyone who presents a proof of participation in ETH.
Later also will be responsible for designating random validators to verify the chain of fragments. This is because fragmented chains can only safely enter the Ethereum ecosystem by establishing a consensus mechanism that will be ensured by the Beacon Chain.
Additionally, the Beacon chain will monitor validator repositories and update them. If a validator does not follow the rules, they are penalized. It will also remove validators whose deposits fall below 16 ETH.
Ultimately, the Beacon Chain represents the engine of the new virtual machine that is in development without stopping its operation in the original chain. It is like building a new space shuttle by docking it with an old edition one while both are in flight.
When the process is complete, the project aims to develop a new spacecraft capable of flying at the speed of light . This in terms of Ethereum, the plan outlined is to make the network compete with large payment processors such as Paypal or Visa.
As Vitalik has pointed out in the past, the task is to achieve a high level of transaction processing, keeping the network as secure as it has been until now, but cheaper and much more decentralized.
