The Ethereum core developers have unveiled the next milestone in their sharding roadmap: Cancun-Deneb. This update comes after the Shanghai release and aims to enhance the network's scalability.
While the previous
Shanghai-Shapella upgrade enabled the withdrawal of ETH from staking, Cancun is specifically geared towards reducing transaction fees.
In 2023-2024, a significant focus will be placed on enhancing the scalability of the network. Source: content.bitazz
The upcoming network upgrade, slated for autumn 2023, will follow a similar approach as the April protocol changes, with implementations planned at both the execution level for smart contracts (Cancun) and the PoS consensus level (Deneb).
The key innovation of this upgrade is the introduction of a new transaction type called EIP-4844, also known as
Proto-Danksharding, as outlined in the technical documentation. This aims to further segment the network by utilizing temporary storage and retrieval of previously deleted data. If successfully activated, it is expected that transaction costs on the Optimism and Arbitrum networks will be halved compared to their current fees.
As per the developers' statements, the primary goal of EIP-4844 is to enhance the scalability of Ethereum beyond the current capabilities of Layer 2 solutions, with the reduction in gas fees being considered as a secondary benefit. This will be achieved through the introduction of Binary Large Object (BLOB) transactions, which will enable network clients to store significant amounts of data without overloading the blockchain.
To test EIP-4844, the fifth multi-client development network (devnet) is set to launch in late April.
In addition, there are ongoing discussions about another potential code modification for a consensus-level upgrade, known as EIP-6914 in the technical community. This improvement focuses on the possibility of reusing indexes of validators who have been inactive in the network for a long time. Unlike clearing cache on a personal computer, the list of inactive validators in the blockchain cannot be deleted. Therefore, the proposal suggests utilizing their keys for new participants to avoid the unnecessary proliferation of entities.
It is currently unclear whether the EIP-6914 improvement will be implemented in Cancun-Deneb or included in the next Ethereum fork.
