Dencun Hard Fork to Lower Ethereum Rollup Costs But Users Won't See Immediate Benefits
Summary:
The Dencun hard fork on the Ethereum blockchain will notably reduce rollup costs in Layer-2 protocols, but users might not experience the full advantages right away. With nine improvement proposals, including EIP-4844, the hard fork changes the way Ethereum rollups store data. Instead of using the current permanent storage, EIP-4844 introduces temporary "blob" storage, making it cheaper for rollups. Brought to life by Dencun, expected to launch on Ethereum mainnet on March 13, it represents Ethereum's movement to a Layer-2-centric scaling approach.
Ethereum's Layer-2 protocols will benefit from significantly reduced rollup costs following the implementation of the Dencun hard fork. However, users may not feel the full effect immediately. David Silverman, Vice President of Product at Polygon Labs, suggests it might take a while for rollup protocols to adapt and fully implement the recent hard fork, which includes several improvement proposals (EIPs).
The Dencun hard fork, named after the combination of Ethereum’s execution layer's Cancun upgrade and the Deneb update on the consensus layer, houses nine EIPs in total. A major highlight of this hard fork is EIP-4844, which alters the way Ethereum rollups store data on the mainnet. Current Ethereum rollups gather and process off-chain transactions, provide a cumulative proof of these transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, and have one type of storage - call data storage. It’s permanent and all Ethereum nodes are required to store that state indefinitely.
A new solution has been proposed in EIP-4844, introducing the blob space for rollups to add data to blocks at lower rates. The high costs associated with call data storage resulted from all Ethereum nodes needing to process data present on-chain indefinitely.
Named Proto-danksharding after its invented EIP-4844, this solution lets rollups send and attach data blobs to blocks. This data is off-limits to the Ethereum Virtual Machine and is automatically removed after an estimated 18 days.
Silverman states that these blobs, saved temporarily, greatly decrease rollup costs, ensuring the same level of security.
The reduced rollup costs will not be felt right away. Proto-danksharding is still a hot debate amongst Ethereum community members due to its future implications for rollup data storage costs. Layer-2 developers predict rollup costs will drop by 10 to 50 times, however, the full effect will only be seen once Dencun goes live on the mainnet.
Scheduled for March 13, the Dencun hard fork will require rollups to individually update before benefiting from the new storage space.
Executives at Polygon Labs are expediting the implementation of EIP-4844, while discussions with Optimism, zkSync and Arbitrum indicate eagerness to quickly leverage the hard fork.
Dencun symbolizes Ethereum's shift to a layer-2-centric scaling strategy, emphasizing innovation and user experience on L2. Major rollup entities have begun collaborating in the Roll Call forum, producing configuration suggestions.
Silverman anticipates an active response to the finalized hard fork, despite the initial lack of rollup cost impact. As more rollups gradually join the blob space post the EIP-4844 implementation, the effects of Proto-danksharding will surface, gradually reducing cost impacts.
Published At
3/7/2024 1:40:44 PM
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