Author: Bulu Shuo
Ethereum has been upgraded successfully again!
March 13, 2024 13:55 (UTC time) [Singapore time is March 13, 21:55] Dencun has been officially activated on the 269568th epoch of the Ethereum mainnet.
This upgrade is the key to further expansion of Ethereum. It can increase the transaction volume that the Ethereum network can respond to per second, and will also open up Ethereum data storage and A new stage in the development of retrieval capabilities.
imToken now supports all Layer2 networks and EVM compatible chains on Ethereum. After the Dencun network upgrade is completed, users who hold digital assets can imToken experiences asset transactions on the Ethereum Layer 2 network with higher cost performance and cheaper gas fees.
Impact of Dencun upgrade
For blockchain users who hold digital assets: Since 90% of the transaction costs paid by users in Layer 2 exchanges are due to data storage, after the Dencun upgrade, Ethereum The Gas fees required for digital asset transactions on the Layer 2 network will be significantly reduced, to only one-tenth of the current level, or even more.
According to statistics from IntoTheBlock , Aribitrum’s transaction fees will drop from $2.02 to $0.4; Optimism’s transaction fees will drop from $1.42 to $0.28; Base’s transaction fees Will drop from $0.58 to $0.01.
Dencun upgrades to Layer2 network Impact on transactions per second (TPS) |
Layer2 Network < /td> | Dencun Upgrade Before strong> | Dencun Upgrade After |
Optimism | 716 | 1002.4 |
Arbitrum One | 241 | 337.4 |
zkSync Era | 622 | 870.9 |
△ Data source: Dune
Dencun upgrades to Layer2 network transactions Impact of Gas Fees |
Network | Dencun Upgrade Before | Dencun Upgrade After < /td> |
Send ETH | Swap | Send ETH | Swap |
Optimism | $0.11 | $0.22 | $0.00788 | $0.02 |
Arbitrum One | < td colspan="1" rowspan="1" opera-tn-ra-cell="_$.pages:0.layers:0.comps:0.col1:24.classicTable1:4.td@@1">< p style="text-align: left;">$0.17$0.48 | $0.01214 | $0.034 |
zkSync Era | $0.10 | - | $0.00714 | - |
△ Data source: I2fees.info, statistics on December 8, 2023
The data after the Dencun upgrade is speculation
For blockchain developers: After the Dencun upgrade, you need to upgrade in time Client, check out the Ethereum technology protocols included in this Dencun network upgrade to determine whether these protocols will affect related projects - this Dencun network upgrade has introduced many exciting new features for both the execution layer and consensus layer of Ethereum. Functionality, the only Ethereum technology protocols with backward compatibility implications are EIP-6780, EIP-7044, and EIP-7514. Additionally, the Goerli testnet will no longer be available.
For the blockchain ecosystem: After the Dencun network upgrade is completed, the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem will achieve significant transaction cost reductions. usher in accelerated development. While reducing costs, the Dencun upgrade will also bring efficiency gains in data processing speed to the Ethereum Layer 2 network after completion, and may have the opportunity to increase transaction speed by 100 times. Such development has actually brought more intense competition to the Layer1 public chain, but for the Layer2 ecosystem, the competition has just officially begun, and more dark horse projects will appear in the future.
Currently, the total market value (TVL) of the well-known Layer2 project Aribitrum is second only to Layer1 public chains such as Tron and BSC, and the well-known Layer2 project OP Mainnet (formerly The total market value of Optimism is slightly lower than Aribitrum, but it is also ahead of some well-known public chains, such as Solana.
Why can Layer2 enjoy the huge benefits brought by Dencun upgrade?
Among all the technical protocols implemented in the Dencun upgrade, the most important technical protocol is EIP-4844, which also promotes Ethereum. The Layer 2 ecosystem is the primary contributor to real cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
In the operation of Layer2 ecology, the Ethereum main network is usually used as the data availability layer (DA layer), so that the security of the main network can be fully utilized. and data integrity to prevent transactions occurring on Layer 2 from being maliciously attacked or tampered with. However, due to the block capacity and transaction throughput of the Ethereum main network, it is actually difficult to support Layer 2 network transactions whose data processing volume per second is dozens of times that of the Ethereum main network to a certain extent.
These contradictions have always existed in the past, and also resulted in a large number of Layer 2 transactions often taking a lot of time to wait in actual operations before the Dencan upgrade was completed. Block confirmation, or having to pay higher Gas fees in order to confirm transactions as quickly as possible.
Therefore, in the long run, if Layer2 can only rely on the Ethereum mainnet as the data availability layer, there must be an obvious bottleneck in the future development of Layer2.
In the Dencun upgrade, the EIP-4844 technology protocol introduces a new transaction type, Blob. When a transaction occurs, EIP-4844 is able to move the transaction data to a new blob for temporary storage.
The existence of this Blob is similar to adding a parallel external data storage channel to the Ethereum main network. In actual operation, Blob data is stored by the nodes in the Ethereum consensus layer, so it cannot be read by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in the execution layer. It is through this data separation that In order to help the Ethereum main network carry Layer 2 data, it solves the problem that before the Dencun upgrade, transactions on the Layer 2 network need to be queued to wait for verification and confirmation with the Ethereum main network data, so they need to consume a lot of gas fees and waiting time.
At the same time, in order to reduce the pressure on the main network, Blob data will be deleted after 18 days. In addition, the EIP-4844 technical protocol sets an upper limit on the increased storage space of each beacon block, which is limited to a data size of approximately 0.5 MB (approximately 4 Blobs) at most, but this upper limit is expected to increase in the future.
It can be seen that the core problem solved by Dencun's upgrade to Layer 2 is still the data problem.
Before the Dencun upgrade was completed, solutions that relied on third-party public chains to act as data availability layers were also sought after. The most well-known is the Celestia blockchain. This blockchain itself can carry a large transaction volume, so it can help verify transactions on Layer 2, and then upload transaction status back to the Ethereum main network in batches. It is a data availability solution that can be highly modularized. Currently , many application chains in the Cosmos ecosystem use Celestia as the data availability layer.
However, the solution of relying on third-party public chains to solve the Layer 2 data capacity will definitely not be as good as the Ethereum mainnet as the data availability layer in the short term. Consensus or trust, and the Blob temporary storage introduced by the EIP-4844 technology protocol implemented by Dencun has therefore become a solution that benefits the current Layer 2 ecosystem more.
Development Outlook of Well-known Layer2 Projects in 2024
Dencun Upgrade Will benefit from all Layer2 projects, whether developed using Optimistic Rolllup or ZK Rollup Layer2.
As mentioned in the blog post of the co-founder of Ethereum The Three Transitions: The three main technologies that Ethereum needs to go through The transitions are respectively the transition to Layer 2, where everyone turns to Rollup; the transition to wallet security, where everyone uses smart contract wallets; and the transition to privacy, ensuring that privacy-protecting fund transfers are feasible.
After the Dencun upgrade is completed, what developments in these popular Layer2 networks can we continue to pay close attention to?
Aribitrum and Optimism: These are the two Layer 2s with the largest number of users and the largest cumulative market value (TVL) in the current blockchain world. The network has sufficient first-mover advantage. After the upgrade, Dencun may become the network of choice for new users and new funds to enter the Layer 2 field.
Polygon zkEVM:Polygon zkEVM, which has shifted from the public chain market to embracing Ethereum Layer 2, has a natural market push compared to other Layer 2 projects. force. According to news on February 26, 2024, the 10-day time lock for the Polygon zkEVM mainnet Beta upgrade has been activated. Transaction information including the Elderberry proposal and upgrade contract has been released on GitHub and Etherscan, and is expected to be released in early March 2024. About to go online on the mainnet.
Metis: Available in 2021, developed using Optimistic Rollup. Metis in 2024 will be upgraded to a Hybrid Rollup that combines the Optimistic Rollup architecture with Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK). At present, Metis's sequencer has been opened for community testing on January 3, 2024 after being launched on the Holesky test network. It will also plan to launch a liquid staking application to allow these community users to participate in node staking and obtain corresponding benefits.
Base:The development focus of Base in 2024 is to accelerate decentralization, while improving network availability, comprehensively reducing network fees, and integrating Coinbase Bring existing and new users, assets and products to the chain, etc. In the 2024 roadmap, Base mentioned that in order to strengthen interoperability, it is necessary to realize communication between OP chains, continue to refine and improve the chain rules and optimistic RPGF, and is committed to establishing an innovative and dynamic decentralized on-chain economic ecology.
Linea: Linea developed based on ZK Rollup and launched in July 2023, although compared with other Layer 2 projects, the cumulative market value (TVL ) is low, but with its strong development team background, rapidly growing number of transactions after its launch, and sufficient funds, many industry insiders believe it may become one of the largest airdrop projects in 2024.
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