The Ethereum ecosystem is constantly improving. One of its biggest implementations in 2022 was the change of the consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Now, one of the network’s biggest improvements is planned to be EIP-4844 (Proto Danksharding).
This is the topic of today’s lesson. During it, we will discuss what the above implementation is and what benefits it will bring to Ethereum itself and other Layer 2 (Layer 2) solutions.
What is danksharding?
To understand the whole update, we must first discuss what danksharding actually is. This is a novel proposal for Ethereum that simplifies the sharding architecture, compared to previous projects.
Unlike traditional sharding, the one proposed in Ethereum does not expand the transaction space. Instead, it focuses on increasing the amount of space for data. The data fragments referred to in danksharding are so-called blobs, which the Ethereum protocol itself does not interpret. Verification of a blob involves checking its availability. The free space in these data chunks will be used by the Layer 2 rollups, which will support high-bandwidth transactions.
So what is the task of danksharding? It introduces a combined data marketplace. To circumvent the high requirements for validators, EIP-4844 introduces the concept of proponent/builder separation (PBS). Under this, proposerswill bid for the right to select the contents of a slot. The proposer only needs to select the correct headline – the one with the highest bid. At this point, you need to know that only the creator of the block can process the entire block. Other validators and users will be able to effectively verify blocks through data availability.
So what is Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844)?
This is the first step towards full danksharding. It proposes to implement in Ethereum the necessary tools, such as transaction formats or verification rules, without implementing full sharding.
Proto-danksharding introduces blob-carrying transactions, which are very similar to normal transactions, but carry an additional piece of data-as mentioned in the paragraph above blobs. blobs are very large, but at the same time much cheaper. Importantly, the data contained in the blobs is not accessible to the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM). The machine can only view the blob commitment.
What does this approach provide? It scales the Ethereumecosystem, of course. Data transferred via proto-danksharding has a different gas fee and does not overload the Ethernet.
How does proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) work?
EIP-4844 will implement a new transaction type. It will contain additional data fragments – blobs. You can think of a Blob as a sequence of bytes of approximately 125 kB in size. Validators will validate blobs using a new type of cryptography KZG. Blobs are compatible with other data and will help reduce network load and unsustainable gas costs.
What’s more, transactions made with blobs help the Layer 2 solutions to retrieve data in real time. The addition of these data chunks will result in a new fee market in the Ethereumecosystem, separate from the gas market previously used for transaction fees.
Once proto-danksharding is implemented, Layer 2 solutions will have even more benefits. Transactions sent to Layer 1 will be ten times cheaper. This is a huge nod to the end user.
What are the main advantages of proto-danksharding?
First and foremost, EIP-4844 is the first step towards sharding. It will help scale tier 2rollups, as well as reduce gas charges.
EIP-4844 has not yet been implemented on the Ethereum network. It is still at the proposal stage.
Proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) vs EIP-4488
Both tools are proposed solutions to scale the Ethereum ecosystem. EIP-4488 does this by using two factors – reducing the cost of gas and the block size. Proto-danksharding creates a separate transaction type for large fixed-size blocks.
EIP-4488 wants to minimise immediate changes, while EIP-4844 makes more changes upfront to facilitate future upgrades to full sharding.
Summary
Proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) wants to implement part of full danksharding. The update is still at the proposal stage – it has not yet been implemented online. Proto-danksharding includes a new transaction proposal and an independent gas price for blobs.
This is the first step, with the aim of achieving full sharding by the Ethereumecosystem.
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