The Takeaway:
- Moving ETH from the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain to the old ethereum blockchain may be possible in the early months (or years) after launch, new research suggests.
- Due to changes in data storage structure, recalling data to applications will become more expensive on the new network.
- Ethereum will soon lose the ability to execute transactions atomically. This could change the way developers and traders manage their dapps.
- Ethereum 2.0 may possess only about half the transaction capacity as originally planned.
Things are moving fast for the upcoming ethereum 2.0 project.
Aiming to get the broader public up to speed about changes being planned for 2.0, founder Vitalik Buterin wrote four blog posts about its launch during the platform’s annual developer conference, Devcon.
Tentatively planned for launch sometime in the first quarter of 2020, 2.0 is expected to move the world’s second-largest blockchain platform away from a proof-of-work (PoW) system of transaction validation to proof-of-stake.
Proof-of-stake (PoS) is widely expected to be more scalable and energy-efficient than PoW blockchains like bitcoin.
In preparation for the historic upgrade, Buterin is currently educating users and application developers about what’s in store come 2020 and beyond.
Coupled with one additional post written shortly before the Devcon conference, Buterin’s five blog posts addressing concerns and long-held unknowns about the ethereum 2.0 network have become highly popular reads in the cryptocurrency community.
“This is incredible. When most of us are limping into the last day of the Devcon conference … Vitalik is cranking out analyses of some of the ecosystems largest obstacles. Forever impressed,” blockchain consultant Tyler Smith tweeted on Oct. 10. Others joked Buterin had entered “beast mode.”
This is incredible. When most of us are limping into the last day of the Devcon conference (late nights with friends and colleagues), Vitalik is cranking out analyses of some of the ecosystems largest obstacles. Forever impressed @VitalikButerin !
— R. Tyler Smith (@R_Tyler_Smith) October 11, 2019
For those of us without time to dissect even one of Buterin’s blog posts, let alone five of them, here’s the TL;DR in layman’s terms.
1. Moving ETH from the ethereum 2.0 blockchain to the old ethereum blockchain may once again be possible in the short term.
As the current ethereum 2.0 design stands, it’s likely to be years before the old ethereum PoW chain is fully merged into the new PoS network (see below).
Meanwhile, transfers of ETH between the two chains will be disabled.
This is because the added complexity of creating a two-way bridge, according to ethereum 2.0 developer Preston Van Loon, presents “a security risk” to both chains. Continue reading…