The Cancun Upgrade Approaches: What are the Noteworthy EIPs in Ethereum?

As the Ethereum network progresses towards the Dencun hard fork in the first quarter of 2024, the community is eagerly anticipating a series of significant improvement proposals (EIPs). These proposals are not only crucial for the future direction of Ethereum but could also have a profound impact on the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. In this article, we will delve into the details and potential implications of these proposals, offering readers a comprehensive understanding.

In the latest Ethereum core developers meeting, a tentative timetable was finally set for the next mainnet hard fork, the Dencun upgrade. It is important to note that, barring any major issues, Ethereum developers plan to fork the Ethereum public testnets on the following dates:

• Goerli: January 17

• Sepolia: January 30

• Holesky: February 7

This will be the last time Goerli is included in the testing plan, as the network is expected to be deprecated.

Furthermore, they discussed the next steps - the yet-to-be-named Prague/Electra upgrade. The Ethereum community is considering whether to focus on a major core functionality improvement (which might take a year of work) or to proceed with multiple smaller improvements (which could be implemented by the end of 2024).

A decision on this matter will be made after the New Year, but for now, here are some improvements worth noting after the 2024 Dencun upgrade:

EIP-4844 (Original Danksharding)

EIP-4844 is a major project in the Dencun EIP series and was the focus of many news reports in 2023. Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder of StarkWare, pointed out that this upgrade will reduce the data availability costs for all L2 solutions. Therefore, this is something Starknet is eagerly anticipating as it would lower costs for users. Lucas Henning, Chief Technology Officer at Web3 wallet developer Suku, called this “a year of breakthrough improvements for Ethereum”. EIP-4844 is a transformative technology that could cut Rollup Gas fees by up to 100 times.

Rise of Account Abstraction

Another focus of Henning’s attention is the improvement using account abstraction: ERC-4337 and its extension ERC-6900. ERC is a subset of EIP, specifically focusing on token standards within the Ethereum ecosystem. They define rules for token implementation to ensure interoperability. Unlike some EIPs that modify the core protocol, ERCs generally do not require a hard fork. ERC-4337 went live in March, and Henning believes the concept of account abstraction will play a key role in the most significant user changes. He says that account abstraction will completely change our perception and interaction with wallets, making Gas transactions standard, and secure social logins the new norm, fundamentally reshaping the Ethereum user experience. Traditionally, Ethereum has two types of accounts: Externally Owned Accounts (EOA) controlled by private keys, and contract accounts controlled by code. Account abstraction blurs this distinction, allowing users to create accounts more like smart contracts. It can enhance user experience and security, and allow for more complex account logic, such as multi-signature wallets or social recovery of lost keys. ERC-6900 introduces the concept of “delegated transactions”. This standard also doesn’t require changes to the Ethereum mainnet consensus and allows users to delegate the ability to send transactions on their behalf, for example, to approve a batch of operations in one go for time and hassle saving.

EIP-1153 (Transient Storage Opcode)

This proposal is part of Dencun, aimed at introducing a new mechanism for handling temporary or transient storage during the execution of smart contracts. Traditional storage operations on Ethereum are permanent and consume Gas. This can be inefficient for temporary data that does not need to persist in a single transaction. EIP-1153 is an opcode (operational code) that allows smart contracts to use transient storage — storage that is cleared at the end of transaction execution. The Uniswap team lobbied for 1153 and hoped it would already be in Shapella, but they were unable to garner enough support to reach a consensus among core developers. This upgrade is expected to play a significant role in enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of Uniswap’s upcoming v4 protocol. By enabling transient storage, EIP-1153 can reduce the Gas cost of storing data during contract execution and offer developers more flexibility in designing smart contracts. By easing the burden on permanent storage and minimizing state bloat, EIP-1153 can help the overall scalability of the Ethereum network.

EIP-4788 (Beacon Block Root Commitment)

Imagine Ethereum as a vast library with two main parts: the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) part, like the reading room where people come to read books (execute smart contracts), and the Beacon Chain part, like the library’s catalog system, tracking all the books and their locations (consensus and coordination of the Ethereum network). Before EIP-4788, these two parts functioned somewhat independently. The EVM part did not have direct access to the latest catalog; it had to rely on indirect methods to learn about what’s happening in the Beacon Chain part. EIP-4788 proposes placing a “Beacon Block Root” (a summary or hash tree root of the parent block) in each EVM block. This is like moving from an outdated card filing system in the library (inefficient, sometimes inaccurate) to a system that is real-time, accurate, and directly linked with the main library database. In this modern library, whenever a new book is added, moved, or removed (Beacon Chain updates), readers (EVM) can immediately get accurate information. Readers can trust they are getting the latest information, and the library’s operations (like executing smart contracts) are more in line with the overall catalog system (state of the consensus layer). All of this happens in a way that minimizes trust, eliminating the need for external oracles to provide these data, thus reducing potential points of failure or manipulation. This change is especially beneficial for liquid staking protocols like Lido, smart contract-based bridges, and re-staking solutions, as it allows these protocols to directly access critical data like validator balances and states from the consensus layer, enhancing their security and operational efficiency. EIP-4788 essentially introduces a protocol-level oracle, transmitting the consensus state of Ethereum across the entire mainnet

. Misha Komarov, founder of the Nil Foundation, who is deploying zkOracle for Lido, calls it “absolutely helpful”. He says “They need to use consensus layer state roots in application logic (currently proven via zkLLVM to the execution layer inside Casper FFG), which is done in the design of zkOracle”.

Click here to read:New Ethereum Rollup takes a zero-knowledge approach to sharding

EIP-5656 (MCOPY Opcode)

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) operates using a set of opcodes that instruct various operations. EIP-5656 introduces a new opcode named MCOPY, aimed at optimizing the process of copying data in memory during the execution of smart contracts.

In the current EVM architecture, copying large data segments using existing opcodes can be inefficient and costly. MCOPY offers a more effective way, expected to reduce the Gas costs associated with these operations, while also enhancing performance.

Faster memory operations mean quicker execution of contracts. Developers will have more tools to optimize their smart contracts, especially when dealing with large data structures or complex operations involving memory operations.

EIP-6780 (Restricting SELFDESTRUCT)

In Ethereum, the SELFDESTRUCT opcode allows a smart contract to remove itself from the blockchain. When executed, it removes the contract’s code and storage from the state and sends the remaining Ether to a specified address.

However, this functionality has led to several issues, including complexities in state management and potential security vulnerabilities. By restricting SELFDESTRUCT, Ethereum can better manage its state size, leading to a more stable and predictable blockchain. This is crucial for the network’s long-term scalability and maintenance, as it will simplify future Ethereum upgrades.

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