Ethereum Beacon Chain is ‘far from perfect’ but brings great opportunity
As the Ethereum Beacon Chain turns four, researcher Justin Drake reflects on its achievements and role as the foundation of the blockchain network.
The Beacon Chain was launched on December 1, 2020 as part of the network's transition to Ethereum 2.0. The introduction of the Beacon chain marked the blockchain's shift to a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol, allowing users to claim their Ether (ETH) as rewards.
Source: Justin Drake
Drake revealed that the Beacon chain had a humble start, with only 0.5 ETH stake on the first day. However, he described the evolution process as “the strongest foundation ever seen.”
Ethereum researchers celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Beacon Chain
The researcher highlighted key milestones achieved by the network, including 10,000 consensus participants, $125 billion in economic security, layer-1 hacking, 51% attack recovery in layer-0 hacking, and 100% uptime. Drake wrote:
“No other chain of PoW or PoS will come close – the gap is too big. This is the power of long-term thinking, taking the long, hard road.”
Drake added that there is a “tremendous opportunity” to develop Ethereum as an Internet settlement of value. Despite these successes, Drake admits the Beacon chain is “not perfect.”
He emphasized the need for improvements, including better censorship resistance, improved MAV handling, smaller deposits, improved delegation, faster finalization, smarter token issuance, and post-quantum security.
He urged the members of the society to participate saying that the future is bright. “I invite you to participate. Ethereum could be humanity's greatest and most exciting decentralized computing project,” Drake wrote.
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Justin Drake presents “Beam Chain”.
At the DevCon event in Bangkok, Thailand, Drake introduced a new concept: the “Beam Chain,” a proposed replacement for the Beacon Chain.
In his keynote, Drake described BeamChain as a step toward the “ultimate design” of Ethereum. He explained that when the beacon chain laid its foundation, it became “old-fashioned,” and new developments occurred after deployment.
Drake believes that the move to Beam Chain will help Ethereum develop further, in line with the community's long-term goals for the blockchain network.
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