Ethereum builders have tentatively selected Jan. 17, 2024, for the upcoming “Dencun” upgrade’s first testnet deployment throughout the newest bi-weekly dev assembly on Dec. 21.
Initially slated for the final quarter of 2023, the ‘Dencun upgrade was pushed to 2024 due to the engineering complexities involved.
Tim Beiko, the protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, noted that the date is not set in stone and could change if major issues arise. The team aims to release a blog post detailing the fork during the week of Jan. 8, 2024 — giving stakeholders a week to prepare for the update.
Dencun upgrade timeline
The meeting set out a draft timeline for the testing phase of the Dencun upgrade.
Following the Goerli testnet on Jan. 17, 2024, developers plan to run tests on other networks — Sepolia on Jan. 31, 2024, and Holesky on Feb. 7, 2024.
The developers aim to deploy the changes on the mainnet by the end of February 2024 if everything goes smoothly. However, these dates are subject to change based on the results of the testnet forks.
Dencun will be Ethereum’s first main upgrade since ‘Shapella’ earlier this yr, which was a big milestone in itself, enabling staked ether (ETH) withdrawals from the blockchain.
Equally, a significant facet of the Dencun upgrade is the implementation of “proto-danksharding.” This new course of is designed to boost Ethereum’s capability for information storage, a transfer that’s anticipated to scale back charges for Layer 2 rollups and scale the blockchain by rising house for “blobs” of knowledge.
By enhancing information dealing with capabilities and effectivity, it goals to boost the efficiency of rollups and, consequently, the general throughput and affordability of the Ethereum community.
“Layer 3 app-chains”
Along with the Dencun upgrade, the assembly additionally highlighted a collaboration between Avail and StarkWare. The partnership goals to reinforce information availability for appchains throughout the Starknet Layer 2 community. Leveraging Madara, a customizable sequencer, this initiative seeks to develop app-chains that may operate as Layer 3 options throughout the Starknet ecosystem.
These Layer 3 app-chains, powered by the mixed efforts of Avail and StarkWare, intention to revolutionize information availability modes, together with validium and sovereign rollups. This, in flip, will assist optimize transaction processing effectivity and finality, which is essential for blockchain scalability.
The builders additionally touched upon Ethereum’s function within the broader context of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain know-how. They reiterated their dedication to sustaining Ethereum’s place as a frontrunner within the house, emphasizing the necessity for steady innovation and adaptation to fulfill the ever-evolving calls for of the market.
The assembly additionally offered a platform for builders to debate the challenges and alternatives that lie forward for Ethereum. From addressing community congestion points to enhancing consumer expertise, the builders explored a spread of subjects which are important to Ethereum’s roadmap and its customers’ wants.
