According to the latest developments of Ethereum (Ethereum.org), ETH2.0 has reached the minimum startup threshold and will be launched on December 1 as planned.
1. The countdown to the genesis block starts
On the morning of November 24, data from etherscan.io showed that the amount of pledged ETH received in the ETH2.0 deposit contract address had exceeded the threshold required to start the beacon chain (approximately 524,288 ETH). This means that Eth2’s Phase 0 (beacon chain) genesis block will be officially launched on December 1 as previously agreed.
The ETH2.0 deposit contract address was previously announced on November 4, and the amount of ETH received was only 60,000 ETH on November 13, and the minimum requirement for launching the Ethereum 2.0 genesis block 24 hours ago was only 50% complete. Some people are worrying that Ethereum 2.0 may not reach the release threshold on December 1st. On November 23rd, the number of pledges accelerated within a day, rapidly exceeding 90%.
According to official news previously released by the Ethereum Foundation, the creation time of Ethereum 2.0 is set at a block height greater than 1,606,824,000, which is around 12 noon UTC on December 1st. But the prerequisite for the launch is that the number of validators participating in the pledge on the network must reach 16,384, and each validator needs to pledge 32 Ethereum, that is, there must be 524,288 ETH in the deposit contract.
As of 14:30 on November 24, the number of ETH pledged in the deposit contract address has reached 593,600, far exceeding the minimum requirement of 524,288 ETH, and the number of validators participating in the pledge has also exceeded the minimum requirement.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan told the media, “The genesis deposit will be locked at 12pm UTC on November 24th (7 days before December 1st), so we will lock it another morning after the lock-up. You will know the genesis block and validator settings”.
According to the previously officially announced plan, the launch of the ETH2.0 genesis block has officially entered a 7-day countdown.
2. What is ETH2.0?
As we all know, the development plan of ETH is divided into four stages, namely “Frontier”, “Homeland”, “Metropolis”, and “Tranquility”. The conversion between each stage is usually carried out through a hard fork. And ETH2.0 is also called Eth2, which is the general term for all updated stages starting from the “Serenity” (Serenity) stage.
Ethereum 2.0 has actually been on the agenda for a long time. It was originally planned to be released for the first time in January 2020, but it has since been postponed. With the explosion of DeFi on the Ethereum blockchain this year, challenges to network scalability and efficiency have become more urgent.
ETH2.0 is essentially a series of interconnected technology upgrades, the purpose is to improve the scalability, security and sustainability of Ethereum. It will be divided into at least 3 stages to proceed, namely stage 0, stage 1, and stage 2. Each stage has its own sub-goals and updates.
Phase 0 introduces the “beacon chain”. The beacon chain is considered to be the backbone and core of the Ethereum 2.0 network and becomes the root of all other sharding security and verification. At the same time, Phase 0 will make the Ethereum blockchain officially switch to the PoS consensus mechanism, which will fundamentally change the economic foundation of the network.
In the subsequent phases 1 and 2, functions such as sharding and smart contracts will be activated in turn. The verifier will provide transaction verification services for the corresponding shards based on the random allocation of the beacon chain. This also means that after the second stage, the Ethereum 2.0 network will have complete practical functions.
3. ETH ushered in an explosion
The progress of the ETH2.0 deposit contract reached 100%, which means that the long-awaited 2.0 network has entered a countdown, which is a matter of concern for Ethereum and the entire blockchain industry.
As the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum, the price of ETH has been soaring recently. Last week it rose by nearly 33%, and broke through the $600 mark in the early morning of November 24, reaching a maximum of $621, the highest level since 2018. .
The skyrocketing price of ETH is not only because it is the native token of Ethereum, but also has a close relationship with ETH2.0.
The launch of the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract encourages users who want to become Eth2 validators to buy more ETH to pledge. More and more new users buy ETH. In addition, current holders are expected to have ETH 2.0 The reduction in sales has alleviated the market selling pressure of ETH in both aspects.
So, what impact will ETH2.0 have on the market in the future?
Staking will be introduced in the later stage of the ETH2.0 phase 0 “beacon chain”. Users can stake 32BETH on the beacon chain to become a verifier, and get rewards by proposing and proving the next block on the chain. (Note: BETH is a new asset that can only be used by validators on the beacon chain). Therefore, in stage 0, a large amount of ETH may be locked in the beacon chain to earn staking rewards, which will affect the supply of ETH in the market and boost prices.
Of course, the long-term value of ETH still depends on the future ecological development of Ethereum, which has sustainable demand.
In any case, Ethereum, as the head public chain, has gradually matured in technology, and ETH2.0 may continue to open up our new understanding of blockchain.
