Ethereum Developer Conference Review: Make Ethereum Great Again

Last week (November 12-15), the 7th Devcon was held in Bangkok, focusing on the current challenges, solutions, and future roadmap of Ethereum. The three most discussed topics were Beam Chain, Pectra upgrade, and the unification of Ethereum L2.

Original: Devcon 7 Recap: Make Ethereum Great Again (X)

Author: Presto Research

Translated by: Bai Hua Blockchain

Cover: Christine Kim

1、Beam Chain

The focus of the entire Devcon was undoubtedly the presentation by Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) on Beam Chain at 5 pm on the first day. Beam Chain is a long-term improvement proposal for the Ethereum consensus layer, aiming to address the existing limitations and leverage the latest technological innovations such as ZK proofs to "clean up the technical debt". The presentation outlined nine major upgrades under three categories:

1) Block Production (Block Generation)

1) Censorship Resistance: As also proposed in EIP-7805, the "Inclusion List" mechanism will ensure that transactions cannot be censored by centralized block builders.

2) Validator Isolation: It is proposed to adopt the Attester-Proposer-Separation (APS) mechanism to reduce reliance on intermediaries and further decentralize block production.

3) Faster Time Interval: Shorten the block time from the current 12 seconds to 4 seconds to accelerate block processing speed and transaction finality.

2) Staking

• Smarter Issuance Mechanism: It is proposed to set a staking cap to optimize the issuance model of Ethereum, striking a balance between inflation and deflation.
• Lower Validator Threshold: Reduce the staking requirement to 1 ETH to promote decentralization and allow more users to participate as validators.
• Faster Finality: It is proposed to adopt a 3-slot (36 seconds) finality mechanism, replacing the current 15-minute transaction confirmation time.

3) Cryptography

• On-Chain Zk-ization: Enhance consensus security using ZK-SNARKS, support zkVM-based execution, and aggregate signatures into ZK proofs.
• Quantum Security: Adopt quantum-resistant cryptographic schemes, such as hash-based signatures, to mitigate future quantum computing threats.
• Strong Randomness: Use Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to generate unbiased randomness for validator selection.

4) Future Outlook

After the announcement, some on Crypto Twitter expressed concerns about the five-year timeline of this roadmap. However, Justin Drake assured the community that the updates will be rolled out incrementally. Given Ethereum's active efforts to address current user experience challenges, this progress is worth continued monitoring in the future.

2. Pectra Upgrade

The Pectra Upgrade is an important milestone in Ethereum's development, initially envisioned as a precursor to the more complex Fusaka Upgrade (Verkle Transition). However, as of October 2024, the Pectra Upgrade has expanded to include the most Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) in a single upgrade, comprising ten significant code changes. To manage the complexity, the upgrade is divided into two phases, with the first part scheduled to activate the mainnet in early 2025.

The primary objectives of the Pectra Upgrade are to improve Ethereum's PoS mechanism, optimize the user experience, and enhance data availability (DA) capabilities.

Validators and Network Health

• EIP-7251: Raise the maximum effective staking balance to 2048 ETH, while retaining the 32 ETH minimum threshold. This adjustment allows large node operators to consolidate validators, while independent stakers benefit from compounding rewards. By reducing the total number of validators, it mitigates the network pressure as Ethereum approaches 1.6 million validators (as of November 2024), alleviating network bottleneck issues.

User Experience Optimization

• EIP-7702: Introduces a new transaction type that allows Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to delegate code execution through an allowlist. It supports the following features:
  • Batch Processing: Enables users to complete the approval and spending of Tokens in a single transaction;
  • Fee Delegation: Allows third parties to pay the transaction fees on behalf of the user;
  • Permission Downgrading: Restricts account access privileges. These improvements make user account management more efficient and flexible.
• EIP-2537: Introduces support for zero-knowledge cryptography (providing precompiled functions for efficient cryptographic operations on the BLS12-381 curve), which will significantly improve the efficiency of privacy applications and Rollup solutions.

Data Availability Improvements

• EIP-7742: Prepares Ethereum for the dynamic Blob data capacity changes. By removing the redundant Blob maximum verification from the execution layer and delegating the dynamic Blob target management to the consensus layer, it achieves higher scalability during the scaling adjustments.

3. Unifying Ethereum L2

1) Fragmentation in the Ethereum L2 Ecosystem

Ethereum's Layer 2 (L2) solutions have played a revolutionary role in addressing scalability issues, making transactions faster and cheaper. However, as these solutions have proliferated, they have also brought a significant challenge: fragmentation. Each L2 chain is an independent ecosystem with unique rules, interfaces, and liquidity pools. This fragmentation makes it cumbersome for users and developers to perform cross-chain operations. For example, transferring assets or executing governance votes between L2s requires complex bridging mechanisms, leading to poor user experience, higher costs, and inefficiency.

2) The Intention: A Bridge for Seamless Cross-Chain Operations

The concept of "Intention" serves as a unifying link in the fragmented Ethereum ecosystem, addressing this problem. Users can declare their expected operations, such as Token swaps or Non-Fungible Token (NFT) transfers, without having to manually manage the complexities of individual L2s. Intentions can be viewed as a universal "order form" that explicitly specifies the user's desired outcome. Just as in online ordering, where the system coordinates multiple warehouses to fulfill the request, Intentions abstract away the technical details of the operation chains, providing a smoother experience.

ERC-7683 standardizes the expression and execution of these Intentions, ensuring interoperability between the Ethereum mainnet, L2s, and sidechains. It provides the necessary structure for cross-chain communication, integrating the fragmented systems within a common framework. This coordination eliminates inefficiencies, allowing operations to flow seamlessly within the Ethereum ecosystem, ultimately making the system more consistent and user-friendly.

3) Synergistic Potential: ERC-7683 and EIP-7702

When "Intentions" are combined with EIP-7702 (focused on account abstraction), their power becomes even more pronounced. EIP-7702 allows Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to temporarily act as smart contract wallets during transactions. This innovation eliminates the need for users to create dedicated smart contract wallets to perform complex operations (such as cross-chain interactions).

ERC-7683 and EIP-7702 together enable users to initiate sophisticated cross-chain interactions directly from their EOAs. For example, a user can declare an Intention to swap Tokens on an L2, transfer the proceeds to another chain, and execute a governance vote - all within a seamless transaction. By combining the standardization of Intentions with the flexibility of account abstraction, the Ethereum ecosystem can provide a more streamlined user experience.

4. Conclusion

Ethereum has long been focused on improving scalability, but this year's Devcon has shown a strong shift towards addressing various user experience issues that have been previously overlooked. While there are still many long-term goals, it is worth noting how Ethereum continues to evolve into a better product. Looking forward to the next Devcon!

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