January targeted for Dencun testing by Ethereum developers
Developers from the Ethereum Foundation have proposed potential dates for a significant upgrade to enhance the scalability of Ethereum’s blockchain, the largest altcoin in the crypto market. The upgrade, known as EIP-4844, aims to increase the blockchain’s space for data storage and reduce layer-2 rollup fees by activating proto-danksharding. This expansion is expected to enable more transactions without increasing gas fees.
During a biweekly call, developers revealed that testing for the Dencun upgrade on Goerli’s testnet could potentially take place on January 17. However, the upgrade faced delays in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to technical challenges in developing its code.
Assuming successful testing on Goerli, the developers plan to upgrade Sepolia’s testnet by January 31 and Holesky’s network by February 7. These forks represent the largest test chains on the Ethereum platform.
The final goal is to release Dencun on the mainnet by the end of February, but this timeline is subject to change based on further developments. Dencun will be the first major technological upgrade since the addition of withdrawal support for staked Ether (ETH) through Shapella’s update.
In other news, the EthereumPoW network has taken steps towards becoming fully autonomous by disbanding its core development team. This move was initiated in 2022, just before Ethereum’s blockchain transitioned from a proof-of-work model to a proof-of-stake model.
Regarding the market performance of ETH in 2024, JPMorgan analysts predict that the asset will regain market share from Bitcoin (BTC) and potentially outperform most large-cap native blockchain tokens. The approval of a spot ETH ETF could also lead to billions of dollars flowing into the decentralized finance (defi) sector on Ethereum’s network.
