On December 30, 2023, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin unveiled the Ethereum roadmap for 2024, noting that there are only minor changes compared to the previous year.
In a thread on the X social network, Buterin outlined his plans in a series of diagrams and charts, which highlighted six main components – the Merge, the Surge, the Scourge, the Verge, the Purge and the Splurge.
The Merge was a major part of the roadmap, aiming to maintain a simple and resilient proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. This took place in September 2022, integrating the Ethereum mainnet with the PoS blockchain the Beacon Chain.
The Surge targets 100,000 transactions per second across Ethereum and layer 2 networks and is a crucial step to enhance the blockchain’s scalability.
The Scourge focuses on mitigating risks associated with Maximal extractable value (MEV) and liquid pooling, addressing worries about economic centralization within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Buterin also endorsed single-slot finality (SSF) as a solution for Ethereum’s current weaknesses, praising advancements in layer 2 networks and Verkle tree implementations. SSF seeks to ensure changes to a blockchain block are irreversible without burning at least 33% of the total staked Ether (ETH).
The Purge seeks to make the protocol easier to use, the Verge aims to facilitate easier block verification, and the Splurge encompasses all other elements essential for Ethereum’s growth.
Tim Berners Lee’s Web 3.0, crypto burning, crypto-related Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), crypto Polkadot, crypto Algorand, crypto Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and crypto January 2022 are all components of Web 3.0 and algo crypto today.
Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs) to look out for
Earlier on Oct. 21, 2023, the Ethereum All Core Developers meeting provided some tentative dates on the upgrade schedule for the next mainnet hard fork, Dencun.
Tim Beiko, an Ethereum Developer, disclosed in a series of posts on X that “if no major issues arise”, the forking of Ethereum’s public testnets is planned for Jan. 17 for Goerly, Jan. 30 for Sepolia and Jan. Feb. 7 for Holesky.
Goerli is scheduled to be deprecated, meaning that client developers will no longer maintain it. This move is part of the strategy to activate ‘Dencun’ on the Ethereum network in January 2024, which is anticipated to bring considerable advancements in its technological capabilities.
EIP-4844 (Proto-Danksharding) is expected to increase data availability for layer 2 rollups, resulting in a reduction of rollup transaction costs, which will be passed on to crypto users. Account abstraction, as proposed by ERC-4337 and its extension, ERC-6900, is also set to be implemented, which holds major implications for end-user experience and will enable reduced transaction costs and secure social logins.
EIP-1153 (Transient Storage Opcodes) and EIP-6780 (Restrict Self Destruct) are predicted to reduce gas costs and improve the network’s scalability and stability.
Upcoming Dencun upgrade could make Ethereum more competitive
Critics have argued that due to the limited capacity for scaling and privacy solutions at the base layer level, Ethereum’s rivals are gaining relevance. This is evidenced by the recent performance of Solana (SOL), Injective (INJ) and Avalanche (AVAX) which have grown 863%, 2,820% and 270%, respectively, over the last year, compared to Ethereum’s 94%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Transaction fees are a key metric in determining the efficiency of a blockchain network, incorporating the amount of computing power required to process a transaction, known as gas, which also has a variable price measured in the native currency of the protocol and is directly related to network traffic.
A January 2022 report by BitfinityNetwork states that the average cost per transaction on the Ethereum network is 33.5 Gwei, higher than the 5 Gwei for the BNB Chain. On the other hand, Algorand (ALGO) and the Internet Computer (ICP) offer a negligible fixed fee that depends on the value of their token (0.001 ALGO and 0.0001 ICP, respectively), while Polkadot is free.
Ethereum’s layer 2 solutions, however, are unmatched in DApps’ engagement, backed by the dominance of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Data from DAppRaddar ranks Ethereum highest in terms of DApp volumes ahead of BNB Chain, Solana and Avalanche.
Ethereum has also seen a 16% growth in NFT volumes over the past 7 days, outshining BNB Chain and Solana which are negative. Additionally, the Ethereum network’s total value locked (TVL) of $53.32 billion further reinforces its superiority over its rivals, with BNB Chain and Solana holding $2.54 billion and $1.47 billion, respectively, according to DappRadar.
The Dencun upgrade is expected to reduce transaction costs significantly, allowing Ethereum to become even more competitive and maintain its dominance over its crypto related rivals.
Subscribe to our email newsletter to get the latest posts delivered right to your email.
Comments