Last week, the Ethereum Shapella hard fork marked a significant milestone in the network’s agenda. It was, however, only the first step toward a fully scalable Ethereum ecosystem.
Several further enhancements are planned for later this year and in the coming years. These will turn the currently limited network into a lightning-fast world computer and decentralized crypto-economy.
EIP-4844 will be implemented via the Cancun hard fork in the third or fourth quarter of 2023. This will usher in a technology known as “Proto-Danksharding,” accelerating rollups.
Rollups can use the technology to add cheaper data to blocks and minimize network expenses.
Proto-Danksharding has “data blobs” that can be transferred and attached to blocks. These blobs are inaccessible to the EVM and are erased after a predetermined time period.
As a result, rollups can transport data at a lower cost, passing those savings on to customers in the form of lower-cost transactions.
Another significant milestone in Ethereum’s roadmap is Distributed Validator Technology (DVT). Solo staking is currently a technical process for validators with 32 ETH, and staking services like exchanges are centralized. “DVT simplifies’squad staking’ for you and your friends. “Combine your funds and unwind,” Bankless advised on April 20.
Obol Labs is developing a DVT solution that it hopes to deploy by 2024. Proposer-builder separation (PBS) is the third significant milestone. This seeks to address the issues created by MEV (maximal-extractable-value) attacks. According to Bankless, PBS intends to create a “division of labour between two critical tasks of block-building: proposing a block and building it.”
This improvement should reduce MEV activity, but it will not be implemented for at least another two years. Ethereum prices have dropped today as crypto markets are correct. As a result, at the time of writing, ETH was trading down 6.4% on the day at $1,954.
ETH has gained 12% in the last month, but any losses might see the asset return to support near $1,850. Ethereum is currently down 60% from its all-time high of $4,878 in November 2021. Furthermore, crypto markets were due for a correction, so today’s move is a normal aspect of market activity.
