Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has highlighted the significance of transitioning the focus towards building decentralized applications and solutions on Ethereum’s layer-2 (L2) following the successful completion of the Dencun hard fork. This shift in perspective comes after Ethereum achieved scalability through L2 rollups with the reduction of costs associated with submitting cryptographic proofs to its base layer.
Vitalik Buterin expresses satisfaction with Ethereum’s network upgrade
During his keynote speech at ETH Global’s Pragma London event on March 14, Vitalik Buterin expressed his satisfaction with the Ethereum network’s upgrade, marking a crucial step towards basic roll-up scaling. Although this accomplishment is noteworthy, Buterin stressed that it marks only the beginning of incremental improvements in Ethereum’s scalability journey.
Ethereum roadmap: past achievements and future milestones
Buterin also discussed the importance of Ethereum’s roadmap, particularly after the successful transition to proof-of-stake consensus following The Merge in 2022. Many of the milestones outlined in this roadmap were engineering tasks, several of which were realized with the finalization of the Dencun hard fork.
One significant improvement introduced by Dencun is Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4844, which modifies how Ethereum rollups store data on the mainnet. Previously, layer-2 rollups processed transactions off-chain and submitted a summary proof to the Ethereum blockchain. However, EIP 4844 offers a more cost-effective solution by introducing blob space as a replacement for using call data for storage.
Transitioning to an Ethereum 2.0 mindset
The adoption of Proto-danksharding, as suggested by EIP 4844, allows rollups to attach data blobs to blocks without making the data accessible to the Ethereum Virtual Machine. This data is automatically deleted after 18 days, mitigating the historical challenge of high storage costs associated with on-chain data.
Buterin also emphasized Ethereum’s evolution over the past decade and the need for it to transition from an inwardly focused period to one that has a substantial impact on the broader internet and financial systems. He underlined the importance of Ethereum breaking out and making a significant impact in the world as it enters its second decade.
The Dencun hard fork represents a pivotal moment in this narrative, signaling a shift from a layer 1-centric focus to a more L2-centric approach. Buterin anticipates that Ethereum’s base layer will transition from rapid changes to a phase focused on maintenance, with an increased emphasis on L2 solutions and application development.
Encouraging the Ethereum 2.0 mindset among developers
Buterin also commended the tools available within the ecosystem, such as zero-knowledge proofs, which enable developers to construct more scalable applications while maintaining user privacy. He encouraged developers to embrace an “Ethereum 2.0” mindset, leveraging contemporary tools and protocols like L2 rollups to unlock enhanced privacy, security, and performance benefits.
