Last week (from November 12 to 15), the seventh Devcon was held in Bangkok, focusing on the challenges Ethereum currently faces, solutions, and the roadmap for future development. The three main themes attracting the most attention were Beam Chain, Pectra upgrade, and the unification of Ethereum L2.
Author: https://x.com/Presto_Research/
Translation: Bai Hua Blockchain
1. Beam Chain
The highlight of the entire Devcon was undoubtedly Justin Drake's (@drakefjustin) talk about Beam Chain on the first day at 5 PM. Beam Chain is a long-term improvement proposal for Ethereum's consensus layer, aiming to address existing limitations and leverage cutting-edge technologies like ZK proofs to 'clean up technical debt.' The talk presented nine major upgrades under three categories:
Source: Devcon
1) Block Production
1) Anti-censorship capability: As proposed in EIP-7805, utilizing the 'Inclusion List' mechanism to ensure that transactions are not censored by centralized block builders.
2) Validator Isolation: Proposes adopting the Attester-Proposer-Separation (APS) mechanism to reduce reliance on intermediaries and further decentralize block production.
3) Faster intervals: Reducing block time from the current 12 seconds to 4 seconds, speeding up block processing and the finalization time of transactions.
2) Staking
Smarter Issuance Mechanism: Proposing to set a staking cap to optimize Ethereum's issuance model, balancing between inflation and deflation.
Lower Validator Threshold: Reducing the staking requirement to 1 ETH to promote decentralization and allow more users to participate in the validator role.
Faster Finality: Proposing a finality mechanism of 3 slots (36 seconds), replacing the current 15-minute transaction confirmation time.
3) Cryptography
On-chain Zero-Knowledge: Enhancing consensus security by using ZK-SNARKS, supporting zkVM-based execution, and aggregating signatures into ZK proofs.
Quantum Security: Adopting cryptographic schemes like hash-based signatures to address future quantum computing threats, as these schemes are resistant to quantum attacks.
Strong Randomness: Using Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to generate unbiased randomness for validator selection.
4) Future Outlook
After the announcement, concerns arose on Crypto Twitter about the roadmap's five-year time span. However, Justin Drake assured the community that updates will be rolled out gradually. Given that Ethereum is actively addressing current user experience challenges, this progress is worth following closely in the future.
2. Pectra Upgrade
The Pectra upgrade is an important milestone in Ethereum's development, initially conceived as a precursor to the more complex Fusaka upgrade (Verkle transition). However, as of October 2024, the Pectra upgrade has expanded to include the most Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), comprising ten significant code changes. To manage complexity, the upgrade is divided into two phases, with the first part planned to activate the mainnet in early 2025.
The primary goal of this Pectra upgrade is to improve Ethereum's PoS mechanism, optimize user experience, and enhance data availability (DA) capabilities.
Validators and Network Health
EIP-7251: Raises the maximum effective staking balance to 2048 ETH while retaining a minimum threshold of 32 ETH. This adjustment allows large node operators to consolidate validators while benefiting independent stakers from compound rewards. By reducing the total number of validators, it alleviates the network pressure as Ethereum approaches 1.6 million validators (November 2024), mitigating network bottleneck issues.
User Experience Optimization
EIP-7702: Introduced a new type of transaction that allows external accounts (EOA) to delegate code execution through an authorization list. It supports the following features:
Batch Processing: Allows users to approve and spend tokens in one go;
Fee Payment on Behalf: Transaction fees paid by a third party;
Permission Downgrade: Restricts account access permissions. These improvements make account management more efficient and flexible for users.
EIP-2537: Introduced support for zero-knowledge encryption (providing pre-compiled functionality for efficient encryption operations on the BLS12-381 curve), significantly enhancing the efficiency of privacy applications and Rollup solutions.
Data Availability Improvements
EIP-7742: Prepares for the elastic Blob data capacity changes in Ethereum. By removing redundant maximum Blob verification in the execution layer and delegating dynamic Blob target management to the consensus layer, it achieves higher scalability during scaling adjustments.
3. Unified Ethereum L2
Source: @hal2001
1) Fragmentation in Ethereum's Second Layer Ecosystem
Ethereum's second layer (L2) solutions have played a revolutionary role in solving scalability issues, making transactions faster and cheaper. However, with the popularity of these solutions, they also present a significant challenge: fragmentation. Each L2 chain is an independent ecosystem with unique rules, interfaces, and liquidity pools. This fragmentation complicates cross-chain operations for users and developers. For example, transferring funds or executing governance votes between L2s requires complex bridging mechanisms, leading to poor user experience, higher costs, and inefficiencies.
2) Intent: A bridge for seamless cross-chain operations
The concept of 'intent' serves as a unifying link in Ethereum's fragmented ecosystem, addressing this issue. Users can declare their intended operations, such as token swaps or NFT transfers, without manually managing the complexities of various L2s. 'Intent' can be seen as a universal 'order form' that clearly specifies the goals users want to achieve. Just like online ordering, where the system coordinates multiple warehouses to fulfill requests, intent abstracts the technical details of operation chains, making the experience smoother.
ERC-7683 standardizes the expression and execution of these intents, ensuring interoperability between Ethereum mainnet, L2s, and sidechains. It provides the necessary structure for cross-chain communication, integrating fragmented systems under the same framework. This coordination eliminates inefficiencies, allowing operations to flow smoothly within the Ethereum ecosystem, ultimately making the system more consistent and user-friendly.
3) Creating Synergies: ERC-7683 and EIP-7702
When 'intent' combines with EIP-7702 (focusing on account abstraction), its power becomes even more pronounced. EIP-7702 allows externally owned accounts (EOA) to temporarily act as smart contract wallets during transactions. This innovation eliminates the need for users to create dedicated smart contract wallets for complex transactions (like cross-chain operations).
The combination of ERC-7683 and EIP-7702 enables users to initiate complex cross-chain interactions directly from their EOAs. For example, users can declare an intent to swap tokens on L2, transfer profits to another chain, and execute governance votes—all in one seamless transaction. By combining the standardization of intent with the flexibility of account abstraction, the Ethereum ecosystem can provide a smoother user experience.
4. Conclusion
Ethereum has long been committed to improving scalability, but this year's Devcon showcased a strong trend toward addressing various user experience issues that have previously been overlooked. While there are still many long-term goals ahead, it's worth watching how Ethereum continues to evolve into a better product. Looking forward to seeing you at the next Devcon!
Article link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/11/5547.html
Source: @Presto_Research
