This article will delve into the details and potential impacts of these proposals.

Author: Blockwords

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

As the Ethereum network moves towards the Dencun hard fork in the first quarter of 2024, the community eagerly anticipates a series of important improvement proposals (EIPs). These proposals not only concern the future direction of Ethereum, but may also have far-reaching implications for the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. In this article, we will explore the details and potential impacts of these proposals in detail, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding.

The latest Ethereum all-core developers' meeting has tentatively set a schedule for the upcoming mainnet hard fork upgrade, Dencun. It is important to note that Ethereum developers plan to fork the public testnets on the following dates, only if there are no major issues:

• Goerli: January 17th
• Sepolia: January 30th
• Holesky: February 7th

This will be the last time Goerli joins the testing plan, as the network is expected to be deprecated.

They also discussed what's next—the yet-to-be-named Prague/Electra upgrade. The Ethereum community is considering whether to focus on a major core feature improvement (which may take a year of work) or to upgrade around multiple smaller improvements (which may be achieved by the end of 2024).

A decision will be made after the new year on the above issue, but for now, here are some improvements worth noting after the 2024 Dencun upgrade:

EIP-4844 (Original Danksharding)

EIP-4844 is a major project in the Dencun EIP and was the focus of many news reports in 2023.

StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson pointed out that this upgrade will reduce the data availability cost for all L2. So this is something Starknet is very much looking forward to, as it will allow users to reduce costs.

Lucas Henning, Chief Technology Officer of Web3 wallet developer Suku, stated that this is "a groundbreaking year for Ethereum." EIP-4844 is a revolutionary technology that will reduce Rollup Gas fees by up to 100 times.

Rise of Account Abstraction

Another focus of Henning is the improvement using account abstraction: ERC-4337 and its extension ERC-6900.

ERC is a subset of EIPs that specifically focus on token standards within the Ethereum ecosystem. They define rules for token implementation to ensure interoperability. Unlike some EIPs that modify the core protocol, ERCs usually do not require a hard fork.

ERC-4337 went live in March, and Henning believes that the concept of account abstraction will play a crucial role in the most significant user changes.

He stated that account abstraction will fundamentally change our perception and interaction with wallets, making Gas transactions standard, and secure social logins the new norm, fundamentally reshaping the Ethereum user experience.

Traditionally, Ethereum has two types of accounts: externally owned accounts (EOAs) controlled by private keys and contract accounts controlled by code. Account abstraction blurs this distinction, allowing users to create accounts more like smart contracts.

It can improve user experience and security, and allow for more complex account logic, such as multi-signature wallets or social recovery of lost keys.

ERC-6900 introduces the concept of "delegated transactions." This standard also does not require changes to the Ethereum mainnet consensus, allowing users to delegate the ability to send transactions on their behalf, for example, to approve a batch of operations to save time and hassle.

EIP-1153 (Instant Storage Opcode)

This proposal is part of Dencun and aims to introduce a new mechanism for handling temporary or instant storage during smart contract execution.

Traditional storage operations on Ethereum are permanent and consume Gas. This can be inefficient for temporary data that does not need to persist in a transaction.

EIP-1153 is an opcode that allows smart contracts to use instant storage—storage that will be cleared at the end of transaction execution.

The Uniswap team lobbied for 1153 and hoped it was already in Shapella, but they were unable to garner enough support among core developers. This upgrade is expected to play a significant role in enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of the upcoming v4 protocol release for Uniswap.

Click here to read: What is Uniswap Labs preparing for v4?

By enabling temporary storage, EIP-1153 can reduce the Gas cost of storing data during contract execution and provide developers with more flexibility in designing smart contracts.

By alleviating the burden on permanent storage and minimizing state bloat, EIP-1153 can contribute to the overall scalability of the Ethereum network.

EIP-4788 (Beacon Block Root Submission)

Imagine Ethereum as a vast library with two main sections: the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) section, where people come to read books (execute smart contracts), and the Beacon chain section, which is like the library's catalog system, tracking all books and their locations (consensus and coordination of the Ethereum network).

Before EIP-4788, these two sections were somewhat independent in functionality. The EVM section did not have direct access to the latest catalog; it had to rely on indirect methods to understand what was happening in the Beacon chain section.

EIP-4788 proposes placing a "Beacon block root" (the digest or hash tree root of the parent block) in each EVM block. This is like transitioning from the library's outdated card catalog system (inefficient and sometimes inaccurate) to a system directly linked to the main library database, which is real-time, accurate, and direct.

In this modern library, whenever a new book is added, moved, or removed (Beacon chain update), readers (EVM) can immediately obtain accurate information. Readers can trust that they are getting the latest information, and the library's operations (such as executing smart contracts) align more with the overall catalog system (consensus layer's state).

All of this happens in a trust-minimized manner, eliminating the need for external oracles to provide this data, thereby reducing potential points of failure or manipulation.

This change is particularly beneficial for liquid staking protocols such as Lido, smart contract-based bridges, and re-collateralization solutions, as it allows these protocols to directly access critical data such as validator balances and state from the consensus layer, enhancing their security and operational efficiency.

EIP-4788 essentially introduces a protocol-level oracle, delivering Ethereum's consensus state throughout the entire mainnet.

Misha Komarov, founder of Nil Foundation, is deploying zkOracle for Lido, which he finds "absolutely helpful." He stated that "they need to use the consensus layer state root in the application logic (currently proven through zkLLVM to the execution layer's Casper FFG proof), which is accomplished in the zkOracle design."

Click here to read: New Ethereum Rollup adopts zero-knowledge approach to sharding

EIP-5656 (MCOPY Opcode)

The EVM uses a set of opcodes to indicate various operations.

EIP-5656 introduces a new opcode called MCOPY, which aims to optimize the process of copying data in memory during smart contract execution.

In the current EVM architecture, copying large data segments using existing opcodes may be inefficient and costly. MCOPY provides a more efficient way and is expected to reduce Gas fees associated with these operations while improving performance.

Faster memory operations mean faster contract execution, giving developers more tools to optimize their smart contracts—especially when dealing with large data structures or complex operations involving memory.

EIP-6780 (Limiting SELFDESTRUCT)

In Ethereum, the SELFDESTRUCT opcode allows smart contracts to remove themselves from the blockchain. When executed, it removes the contract's code and storage from the state and sends the remaining Ether of the contract to a specified address.

However, this functionality has led to several issues, including complexity in state management and potential security vulnerabilities. By limiting SELFDESTRUCT, Ethereum can better manage its state size, leading to a more stable and predictable blockchain. This is crucial for the long-term scalability and maintenance of the network, as it will simplify future Ethereum upgrades.

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