Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade has successfully debuted on the testnet Goerli, marking the first of three significant steps before its imminent launch on the ETH mainnet. Following in the footsteps of last year’s Shapella upgrade, Dencun is poised to revolutionize the Ethereum ecosystem with its ambitious enhancements.
Scheduled for deployment on Sepolia at epoch 132608 [January 30th, 22:51 UTC] and on Holesky at epoch 29696 [February 7th, 11:35 UTC], Dencun is on track to hit the Ethereum mainnet once these crucial milestones are successfully navigated.
This hard fork represents the most significant upgrade since the Shapella update in March 2023. Initially slated for the last quarter of 2023, the Dencun upgrade was rescheduled to 2024 due to its intricate nature and the need for meticulous testing.
Dencun went live on Goerli at 6:32 UTC on January 17, 2024, introducing several transformative changes. Notably, the upgrade incorporates Ethereum Improvement Proposal [EIP] 4844, known as “proto-danksharding,” which introduces ephemeral data blobs. This innovative approach is expected to substantially reduce transaction fees on layer-2 rollup networks like Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon zkEVM.
Ethereum’s Consensus & Execution Layers Get a Major Overhaul
The Dencun upgrade encompasses pivotal changes to both Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers. Key improvements include EIP-1153, introducing a “transient storage” system to further decrease fees, and EIP-4788, enhancing transparency by storing the root of each Beacon Chain block in a smart contract, catering to bridges and staking pools.
Notably, EIP-6780 is incorporated to limit the use of the self-destruct keyword, ensuring that post-upgrade, the keyword will not erase the code unless called within the same transaction as deployment. This mechanism ensures the transfer of all funds to the deployer, even if invoked in a future transaction.
As the Ethereum community eagerly anticipates the upcoming upgrades on Sepolia and Holesky, the success of Dencun on testnets sets a promising precedent for ETH’s continued evolution and the potential reduction of transaction fees on layer 2 networks. The cryptocurrency world watches with bated breath as Ethereum takes another leap forward in its quest for scalability and efficiency.
