Week in Ethereum News February 10, 2024

Dencun (Cancun + Deneb) upgrade (meta EIP7569)

Latest all core devs – consensus (ACDC) call video. Notes from Christine Kim:
- Mainnet Dencun upgrade set for March 13 epoch 269568, client releases in 2 weeks
- Goerli testnet: tested blob expiry with nodes using checkpoint sync
- Invalid blocks: triggering MEV-Boost circuit breaker to local building discussion
- Electra upgrade scope (small cross layer fork targeting late 2024):
  - Priorities & complexities of potential features: SSZification EIPs, ePBS, inclusion lists (EIP7547) and increase max EB (EIP7251); breakout calls planned
  - peerDAS (EIP7594) can be developed in parallel to Electra
Holešky testnet uneventfully upgraded to Dencun
Dencun interop testing call video: testing churn limit on Holešky testnet & shadowfork planned with mainnet releases

Centralization watch: threatening the value of your ETH

🚨 Lido at 31.59% is far too close to 33.3% threshold
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
- Execution layer: Geth 72% supermajority, could cause a chain split
  - Supermajority dashboard: simulate node operators changing to minority clients
- Consensus layer: Prysm 39%, any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality
Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe

Layer 1

Toni Wahrstätter & Vitalik: options to increase block gas limit via increasing calldata cost; incentivize L2s to use blobs for data availability
bloXroute relay in optimistic mode broadcast invalid blocks built by rsync builder on Feb 6 resulting in 9 missed slots
Reth roadmap (EL client in Rust): targeting v0.2 beta late Feb & v1 production by end of April

Research

Client releases

Consensus layer:
- Lodestar v1.15.1: hotfixes for Besu users, blindedLocal & lock file issues
Execution layer:
- Geth v1.13.12: mainnet Dencun upgrade
  - Era1 initial implementation, provides Execution Layer data history pre-merge; post-merge Execution Layer data is encapsulated within Beacon chain Era files
- Reth v0.1.0-alpha.17: critical fixes for Dencun, sidechain root validation & networking improvements

For stakers

Layer 2

Polygon Type 1 Prover open sourced
RollCall (L2 standards) precompiles breakout call and notes: secp256r1 precompile (RIP7212) live on Polygon testnet and rollup precompile registry in progress

EIPs/Standards

EIPs:
- EIP7612: State storage transition using an overlay tree
- EIP7619: Precompile Falcon512 generic verifier
RIPs (Rollup Improvement Proposals):
- RIP7614: Expose call stack to contracts
ERCs (application layer):
- ERC7613: Puppet proxy contract
- ERC7615: Atomic push-based data feed among contracts
- ERC7616: Hybrid fungible token
- ERC7617: Chunk support for ERC5219 mode in web3 URL
- ERC7618: Content encoding in ERC5219 mode web3 URL

Stuff for developers

EthereumJS releases: Dencun upgrade support, WASM used by default for crypto primitives, RPCStateManager, expanded EIP1186 proof functionality and Tx addSignature API
Gaslite Merkle Drop base contracts: GasliteMerkleDN (native tokens) & GasliteMerkleDT (ERC20)
Ethers js v6.11.0: adds EIP4844 blob transactions
Ethers-kt (Kotlin): async library for EVM interaction, targets JVM & Android platforms

Ecosystem

Ethereum Protocol Fellowship study group, 10 week series starts Feb 19, research & development tracks, precursor to fifth cohort
Ethereum Foundation academic grants round, $1M available

Job listings: $600 for 4 issues (75 char limit). Pay using 3cities. Questions? abcoathup at-gmail

Onchain stats

Gas fees (via ultrasound.money): 9.4 to 367 gwei, with 35.2 gwei average
- Zero net issuance currently at 22.2 gwei
- 10.1k ETH net burn this week
ETHUSD: $2,279 – $2,522, currently $2,495
ETHBTC: currently 0.053 (Flippening at ~0.16)

Notable at app layer

GoDaddy integrated with ENS, users can associate an address with their domain name
POAP Collections: curate groups of POAPs
Kain Warwick: Synthetix 2024 roadmap
Brice reflects on app governance upon leaving GHO liquidity committee
Gitcoin Grants proposed updates: refocus on open source software & ETH infrastructure with rounds every 6 months & $1M matching pool, communities can run their own web3 community & education rounds

Regulation/business/tokens

SEC “dealer” rule finalized, excludes those with/controlling less than $50M in assets
Jake Chervinsky: state of crypto vs SEC
Kain Warwick: SEC response to ICOs created worse outcomes than if they had done nothing

General

Josh Stark: Trust Experience shape expectations of future blockchain behavior
Vitalik: authenticate people by asking security questions to mitigate deep fakes
Constant-size zk-SNARKs in ROM from Falsifiable Assumptions

(new/changes in bold)

Feb 19 – Ethereum Protocol Fellowship study group 10 week series starts
Feb 23-Mar 3 – ETHDenver BUIDLWeek & hackathon
Mar 5 – EF academic grants round application deadline
Mar 13 – mainnet Dencun upgrade epoch 269568
Mar 13-14 – ETHLatam (San Pedro Sula, Honduras)
Mar 15-17 – ETHGlobal London hackathon
Mar 19-21 – ETH Canal (Panama City, Panamá) conference & hackathon
Mar 21-24 – ETHTaipei conference & hackathon
Mar 22-24 – ETHSamba (Rio)
Mar 27-30 – ETH Bucharest conference & hackathon
Mar 29-31 – ETH Seoul hackathon
Apr 5-26 – ETHGlobal Scaling Ethereum virtual hackathon
Apr 5-7 – EthereumZuri.ch conference
Apr 12-14 – ETHDam (Amsterdam) conference & hackathon
Apr 16-18 – EY Global blockchain summit (London)
May 3-5 – ETHGlobal Sydney hackathon
May 21-23 – DappCon (Berlin)
May 24-26 – ETHBerlin hackathon
May 31-Jun 2 – ETHDublin hackathon & conference
May 31-Jun 2 – ETHPrague conference & hackathon
Jun 3-5 – ETH Belgrade conference
Jul 8-11 – EthCC (Brussels) conference
Jul 12-14 – ETHGlobal Brussels hackathon
Jul 26-30 – EDCON Tokyo conference
Aug 23-Sep 13 – ETHGlobal ETHOnline virtual hackathon
Sep 20-22 – ETHGlobal Singapore hackathon
Oct 18-20 – ETHGlobal San Francisco hackathon
Nov 12-15 – Devcon 7 – Southeast Asia (Bangkok)
Nov 15-17 – ETHGlobal Bangkok hackathon

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