Consensus

Buterin weighs in on zk-EVMs’ impact on decentralization and security

Vitalik Buterin has weighed the impacts of the addition of zk-EVMs at the protocol level, saying it could speed up the verification process on the base layer.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wants to see zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (zk-EVMs) built on Ethereum’s first layer to speed up the verification process on the base blockchain.

Buterin explained in a March 31 post that it’s possible to integrate a zk-EVM on the base layer without compromising on decentralization and security. The technology enables Ethereum Virtual Machines to execute smart contracts on the blockchain with ZK proofs.

Ethereum was developed with a “multi-client philosophy” to ensure decentralization at the protocol level, Buterin explained. By integrating zk-EVMs at the Ethereum layer 1, it would be the third type of client.

“Once that happens, zk-EVMs de-facto become a third type of Ethereum client, just as important to the network’s security as execution clients and consensus clients are today.”

The other two clients are the “consensus” and “execution” clients. The consensus client implements proof-of-stake to ensure nodes in the network reach agreement, while the execution client listens to new transactions broadcast to the network, executes them in standard EVM and holds a copy of the latest state of the blockchain.

In championing the idea of zk-EVM verification at the Ethereum base layer, Buterin firstly considered the advantages and drawbacks of treating the layer 1 as a “clearinghouse” by pushing almost all activity to layer 2’s.

He said many layer 1-based apps would become “economically nonviable” and that small funds — worth a few hundred dollars or less — may get “stuck” in the event that gas fees grow too large.

Buterin explained that zk-EVMs would need to be “open” in that different clients each have different zk-EVM implementations and each client waits for a proof that is compatible with its own implementation before accepting a block as valid.

He prefers this approach because it wouldn’t abandon the “multi-client” paradigm, and an open zk-EVM infrastructure would also ensure that new clients could be developed, which would further decentralize Ethereum at the base layer.

Related: ConsenSys zkEVM set for public testnet to deliver secure settlements on Ethereum

Buterin said zkEVMs might be the solution to “The Verge,” a part of the Ethereum roadmap that aims to make verification at the base layer easier.

Buterin acknowledged that the zk-EVM infrastructure might cause data inefficiency and latency issues, however, he said those challenges wouldn’t be “too hard” to overcome.

If the zk-EVM ecosystem is implemented, it would make running a full node on Ethereum even easier, Buterin explained:

“Ethereum blocks would be smaller than today, anyone could run a fully verifying node on their laptop or even their phone or inside a browser extension, and this would all happen while preserving the benefits of Ethereum’s multi-client philosophy.”

Ethereum layer-2 scaling platform Polygon has made considerable progress with its zk-EVM, having recently open-sourced its zkEVM to the Polygon mainnet on March 27, promising reduced transaction costs and increased throughput of smart contract deployments.

StarkWare, ConsenSys, Scroll, zkSync and Immutable are also deploying similar zkEVM scaling solutions.

Magazine: Attack of the zkEVMs! Crypto’s 10x moment

What are the risks of the Ethereum Merge?

The mammoth task of merging Ethereum’s mainnet and Beacon Chain is finally complete, but what are the risks?

What are the risks and flaws of the Ethereum merge?

One of the foremost concerns regarding the Merge is that of centralization. Another potential concern is the risk of scams, as the general public may not be aware of how the Merge works.

A fundamental flaw in the Merge is that it will likely increase the concentration of power within the network. The more valuable a staker’s position is, the more they will be rewarded for validating blocks. This could lead to a situation where a small number of wealthy individuals or groups control the majority of the stake and have disproportionate influence over the network.

Five major organizations control 64% of the network’s stake. In the event of a contentious fork, these organizations could collude to choose which chain to support, potentially censoring transactions or double-spending funds. Already, critics are debating whether the Merge is a “rich get richer” scheme that will entrench the power of current stakeholders.

Since staking will be required to earn interest on one’s ETH holdings, those who cannot afford to stake may be priced out of the market. This could lead to increased centralization as only those with large amounts of money would be able to participate in staking.

It’s also not uncommon for scammers to take advantage of big transitions such as The Merge, pretending that users need to do something (usually involving giving up tokens) to upgrade. Wallet upgrades are also a potential source of scams, as users may be tricked into downloading malicious software masquerading as an official update.

Lastly, miners who have been mining in Ethereum’s mainnet for years may yet decide to continue on Ethereum’s old chain. After all, many of these miners have likely incurred huge electricity and hardware expenses and may feel that they have more to gain by sticking with the tried-and-true mainnet. 

This could lead to a split in the community, with two competing versions of Ethereum running concurrently. While this scenario is unlikely, it’s still a possibility that investors should be aware of.

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Will the Merge change the Ethereum ecosystem?

The Merge does not change anything for ETH holders and other non-node operating users. There are a few necessary adjustments required of operators, developers and providers, though.

Users that own or use ETH do not need to change or update anything on their wallets or funds because of the Merge. Wallets work just the same as they did pre-Merge, and the Ether held in them has not changed in value or quantity. The entire history of the network since genesis also remains intact despite transitioning to a new consensus mechanism.

The only thing that changes for ETH holders is how the network operates and processes transactions. The Merge affects miners, node operators, and developers more than it does regular users. For example:

  • Staking node operators and providers will need to run both consensus and execution clients, as third-party endpoints for obtaining execution data will no longer work post-Merge. They will also need to set a fee recipient address for transaction fees and maximal extractable value.
  • Infrastructure providers and non-validating node operators will also need to run clients for both the execution layer and the consensus layer.
  • Smart contract and decentralized application (DApp) developers need to familiarize themselves with changes related to block timing, block structure, opcode changes, sources of on-chain randomness and more.

How does Ethereum’s new consensus mechanism work?

Whereas miners in a proof-of-work system put their capital at risk by investing energy to validate a block, validators in a proof-of-stake system put their cryptocurrency at stake.

In order for a validator to be up and running on the network, they first need to deposit 32 ETH into a smart contract. Once deposited, the funds are locked and the validator is ready to begin staking. The staked Ether serves as collateral, meaning it can be destroyed if the validator acts maliciously. 

There are also other ways to stake Ether aside from running a validator node. One could participate in staking via a centralized exchange, join a staking pool or delegate staking via a staking service provider.

Related: Architectural components of the Ethereum blockchain: What are they?

The validator is essentially responsible for checking the validity of new blocks propagated on the network, as well as creating and propagating new blocks. Some of the benefits of a PoS system are:

After the validator executes the transactions in the block, they check the signature of that block to confirm its legitimacy. If it is a valid block, the validator sends an attestation, or vote, for that specific block across the network.

Under PoW, mining difficulty dictates block timing. However, in PoS, the tempo is fixed into slots (12 seconds) and epochs (32 slots). A validator is randomly selected to serve as a block proposer for every slot, during which this validator will be responsible for creating a new block and sending it to other network nodes.

What does the Merge mean for Ethereum miners?

The network now uses proof-of-stake to validate transactions, thereby rendering Ethereum GPU mining largely unprofitable if not completely obsolete.

The Ethereum network’s mainnet has relied on proof-of-work since its genesis, with miners validating blockchain transactions left and right. However, Ethereum’s proof-of-stake layer, or the Beacon Chain, uses builders who bundle transactions together and validators to verify transactions. The amount of cryptocurrency a builder or validator owns will determine their ability to select or validate blocks.

In a bid to make the network more sustainable, the Merge combined these two layers and adopted PoS fully, making Ethereum mining an unproductive way to earn rewards as validators are now more incentivized to preserve the network.

The network previously held around 95% of total GPU hashing power, allowing miners to validate transactions and earn rewards. Under PoS, a validator’s cryptocurrency is at stake, which acts as a disincentive for them to act maliciously.

Following the Merge, Ethereum’s hash rate has also noticeably dropped to zero and has stayed there since. Generally, lower hash rates mean that a network is using less computing power to add and verify transactions on a blockchain. In the case of Ethereum, the drop in hash rate is mainly because miners have either turned off their rigs or switched to other PoW-based cryptocurrencies that are more profitable to mine.

Related: What is PoW Ethereum (ETHW), and how does it work?

What is the Ethereum Merge?

The Merge integrated Ethereum’s original execution layer with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, officially transitioning the network’s consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake.

Formerly referred to as Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum’s consensus layer has now fully merged with the original blockchain (execution layer). The Merge was completed on September 15, 2022, marking the Ethereum network’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). According to the network, the Merge has brought down Ethereum’s energy consumption by around 99.95%.

From a technical perspective, the Merge saw Ethereum’s original execution layer, or the mainnet, merged with its new PoS consensus layer called the Beacon Chain. The Merge is just the first step in Ethereum’s development roadmap, which includes succeeding stages such as The Surge, The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge.

According to Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, the Merge marks about 55% of the development work set to be done on the network. Ultimately, the goal is to make the network more scalable, sustainable and secure while remaining decentralized.

The Merge eliminated the need for PoW, enabling the network to be secured by Ethereum staking. Staking gives Ethereum holders a chance to collect rewards by providing the necessary computing power to validate transactions and secure the network. This also means that since the Merge, all transactions on the network are now being validated by Ethereum stakers instead of miners.

The second major shift triggered by the move to PoS is the diminished issuance of Ether (ETH) via rewards to validators for their efforts in preserving the network, resulting in ETH becoming a deflationary asset. 

Currently, Ethereum’s staking mechanism only accepts deposits that cannot be withdrawn. At the moment, billions worth of ETH is staked on the network — and stuck therein — until a withdrawal feature is added by Ethereum’s developers down the line.

Ethereum dev confirms Goerli merger date, the final update before the Merge

The Goerli merger requires node operators to update both their consensus layer and execution layer clients in tandem, rather than just one of the two.

The Ethereum mainnet is just one testnet merger away from officially transitioning to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. After multiple shadow forks and testnet merges, the years-long journey has reached the final stage with the announcement of the final testnet merge to the Beacon chain.

The transition to PoS began in December 2020 with the launch of the Beacon chain, starting Phase 0 of the three-phase process. Phase 1, the current phase, was slated to be completed by 2021. However, due to numerous delays and unfinished work on the developers’ end, it is expected to be completed by the third week of September. The final phase of the transition is slated to be completed by late 2023.

Lead Ethereum developer Tim Beiko took to Twitter to announce the details of the Goerli testnet transition. The Goreli testnet will merge with the Beacon Chain called Prater and the combined Goerli/Prater network will retain the Goerli name post-merge.

The testnet merger will be completed in two phases starting on Aug. 4 with the Bellatrix upgrade on the consensus layer. The Bellatrix upgrade will be triggered by the epoch height of 112260.

Ethereum’s PoS network progresses in epochs instead of blocks, where one epoch is a bundle of up to 32 blocks.

The second phase of the upgrade will be called Paris, where the execution layer will transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake. This phase is expected to be completed between August 6–12. The Paris upgrade will be triggered by a specific Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) of 10790000. Once the execution layer crosses the threshold TTD, the next block will be solely produced by a PoS validator.

The official announcement noted that the upcoming Goerli merge will be different from the early testnet integration since the node operators need to update both their consensus layer and execution layer clients in tandem, rather than just one of the two. The developer team also attached numerous client releases that support the testnet Merge.

Related: Ethereum options data show pro traders ready to go long into ETH’s Merge

The upcoming final testnet merge will only impact the node operators and testnet participants, Ether (ETH) holders and stakers won’t have to make any changes from their end. The testnet merge will be the final rehearsal before the Ethereum mainnet officially merges with the Beacon chain on Sept. 19. However, the perpetual Merge date could see a change depending on the outcome of the Goerli test net.

The PoS transition of the Ethereum network is being slated as the biggest upgrade for the blockchain network since its inception. The upgrade is focused on increasing scalability through the introduction of sharding and reducing high transaction costs. However, most of the scalability features are expected to be integrated after the completion of the final phase of the transition, which is expected by the second half of 2023.

Reliably unreliable: Solana price dives after latest network outage

Solana has suffered its fifth outage of 2022, and the year is only five months old. A bug-related consensus failure was the culprit this time.

The Solana network is not having a good year, having suffered full or partial outages at least seven separate times over the past 12 months.

A bug has knocked the Solana blockchain offline again as block production halted at 16:55 UTC on Wednesday. This latest outage lasted around four and a half hours as validator operators managed to restart the mainnet at around 21:00 UTC, according to the incident report.

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko explained what happened in a tweet:

“Durable nonce instruction caused part of the network to consider the block is invalid, no consensus could be formed.”

“Durable transaction nonce” refers to a mechanism addressing the typical short lifetime of a transaction block hash according to the official Solana documentation. A bug in the feature caused nodes to generate different outputs resulting in consensus failure, which ultimately caused the latest period of downtime.

The network was restarted with this feature disabled, and Yakovenko added that fixes for the bug “will be out ASAP.”

Naturally, there was a fair amount of backlash from the community with comments like this filling up its feed:

“Get it together Solana. We should be past this already. I’m big believer but I’m even doubting at this point.”

CNBC crypto trader and Onchain Capital CEO Ran Neuner simply quipped:

SOL prices have taken a massive hit, tanking almost 14% over the past 12 hours or so in a fall below $40, according to CoinGecko. The network’s native token has now slumped 85% from its November 2021 all-time high of $260, and it is poised to slip out of the top 10 by market capitalization.

SOL/USD 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko

Solana, which has often been dubbed an “Ethereum killer,” has been fully or partially offline at least seven times since September 2021, when it suffered denial of service attack-related outages twice in the same month, according to the network uptime tracker.

The blockchain was plagued with problems in January when it suffered service disruptions and degraded performance for nine days out of the 31 in the month. Duplicate transactions were blamed for the second outage in January. In late April and early May, Solana was down again for almost eight hours due to nonfungible token minting bots overwhelming the network.

Related: Solana suffers 7 hour outage as bots invade the network

Additionally, Solana’s blockchain clock is slow and running 30 minutes behind real-world time. The status page notes, “On-chain time continues to run behind that of wall clocks, due to longer-than-normal block times.”