Dencun upgrade launch date disclosed by ETH developers
Ethereum developers are preparing to announce a mainnet launch date for the Dencun upgrade on February 8th, which will introduce several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including the highly anticipated proto-danksharding. This upgrade aims to significantly decrease transaction costs on layer-2 solutions, bringing about a new era of efficiency and scalability for Ethereum.
In a Reddit update on February 1st, core Ethereum developer Tim Beiko discussed the successful testing of the Dencun upgrade. The All Developer Execution Call (ACDE) 180 provided insight into the smooth execution of the Sepolia fork on January 30th and the upcoming Holesky testnet upgrade on February 7th, indicating steady progress towards the mainnet launch.
As outlined in a January 24th blog post by the Ethereum Foundation, the Dencun upgrade proposes critical modifications to Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers. This follows the significant Shapella upgrade, executed on April 12, 2023, which allowed for the unstaking of Ether and played a vital role in attracting more institutional investors to Ethereum.
If the upcoming tests continue to yield positive results, Beiko stated that the Ethereum community can expect a fork to be determined during the next All Core Developers Call (ACDC) scheduled for late next week.
Christine Kim, Vice President of Research at Galaxy Digital, has estimated an 80% likelihood of the Dencun mainnet activation by the end of March, with a potential earlier activation by the end of February at a 40% probability.
The Goerli testnet activation of the Dencun network upgrade on January 17th introduced critical EIPs, including EIP-4844. This EIP brings forth the proto-dank sharding innovation, which aims to significantly lower transaction fees on Ethereum layer-2s by optimizing data availability through a new data structure known as blobs.
Proto-dank sharding is a game-changer for rollups, as it aggregates transactions off-chain and provides computational proof to the Ethereum blockchain, greatly reducing the cost associated with data storage and processing.
This enhancement is part of Ethereum’s ongoing evolution to enhance scalability, lower costs, and maintain its position as a leading blockchain platform for developers and users alike.
