Ethereum developers have discussed implementing the Cancun-Deneb (Dencun) upgrade later this year, although an exact date for its deployment has not yet been set.
Ethereum is preparing for a new upgrade later this year, which is focused on improving scalability and reducing gas fees on the network. This is Cancun-Deneb, known as Dencun, which integrates the improvement proposal EIP-4844: proto-danksharding, a mechanism that will help Ethereum become more scalable.
Dencun implementation was discussed at the execution layer developer meeting No. 163.
Ethereum lead developer Tim Beiko highlighted on Twitter that during this meeting, it was also agreed to deploy four other improvement proposals, EIP-1153, EIP-4788, EIP-5656 and EIP-6780, on Dencun to implement minor changes and improvements to the blockchain, such as increasing block space, improving staking pools and optimizing code related to the Ethereum Virtual Machine, among others.
The Cancun-Deneb upgrade was introduced in April this year to introduce proto-danksharding and improve scalability.
“Cancun” is the name of the upcoming upgrade to be implemented on the Ethereum execution layer, while “Deneb” is the name of the upgrade to be implemented on the consensus layer.
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What is proto-danksharding?
Proto-danksharding is a scalability mechanism that introduces a new type of transaction to the network, accepting “blobs” of data that are stored on the beacon chain for a short period. These types of transactions support data from off-chain, layer-2 solutions on Ethereum blocks.
This scalability mechanism was designed to optimize layer 2 rollups on the blockchain and Eliminate the need to fragment the blockchain.
Initially, Ethereum developers relied on el sharding or chain fragmentation to increase its capacity by distributing the data loadHowever, the developers also acknowledged that this was a fairly complex process that was years away from being completed and deployed on the network.
Because of this, new scalability mechanisms for Ethereum are in development, in order to increase performance and maintain the competitiveness of this blockchain without sacrificing its security and stability. Proto-danksharding is an intermediate step to achieve Danksharding, the new scalability approach from network developers.
The Ethereum Foundation explained that proto-danksharding will increase the capabilities of layer 2 solutions, which have been developing faster than expected and are providing a high degree of scalability to the network at present.
Continue reading: The 8 new proposals from developers for the future of Ethereum
