Ethereum devs expect 10x lower package costs when the Denkun update hits the testnet.
The Denkun update hit the network's three testnets in early 2024, bringing the Ethereum ecosystem closer to layer-2 scrolls with significantly lower gas fees and faster transaction speeds.
The Denkun network update was activated on the Goerli testnet on January 17th and introduced several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). Of particular note is the EIP-4844, which enables proto-danksharding, a much-anticipated improvement to reduce L2 transaction fees.
Prism has encountered a bug in Gourley's hard fork. The bug has been identified, and a fix is currently being integrated. A hot patch image will be released in the next few hours. Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!https://t.co/PR9V0lqoCN
— terence.eth (@terencechain) January 17, 2024
According to Cointelegraph , Denku's deployment to Gurley suffered a four-hour delay due to an error that prevented the testnet from completing the update. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Nebojasa Urosevic, co-founder of the Ethereum development platform, detailed the bug.
“Due to a bug in Prism, the network could not sync with the nodes,” Urosevic said.
Tenderly's co-founder and senior vice president of its engineering team noted that client sync delays were common, allowing the error to be identified and quickly corrected:
“Having multiple customers is one reason why testnets exist.”
The Ethereum Foundation's protocol lead, Tim Beiko, shared a statement on January 18th, the latest call to action for all core developers, that described the historic problem. Historical Roots The Ethereum Beacon Chain is the legacy mechanism that the blockchain state uses to manage the computational load.
As Beiko concludes, the bug was related to setting the value of the historical roots from the Ethereum stock verification client Prism to 0, which prevented the Gorley testnet from completing the update of the denk:
In short, every 256 epochs, CL clients save a certain value called historical root. A bug in Prysm set this value to 0 instead of writing to the last historical root when Deneb is enabled.
— timbeiko.eth ☀️ (@TimBeiko) January 18, 2024
Denkun road map
According to the official Ethereum blog, Denkun consists of nine different EEPs. Urosevic describes proto-danksharding and blob transactions as the most anticipated in EIPs.
“Proto-danksharding is a big step towards improved Ethereum scalability by using blob bearer transactions instead of call data.”
Urosevic explains that Data Bleb improves storage efficiency by making transaction data available in a compressed format for the time being. They added that they are more cost-effective than call data, which can be reduced by 80-90 percent.
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Following the successful implementation on Gourley, the Sepolia and Holeski testnets are continuing to improve Denku. Jurosevic noted that successful deployments on all three testnets are needed before plans to upgrade Ethereum's mainnet.
Denkun storage improvements
Ethereum Blockchain Gnosis Infrastructure Director Philipp Schomers highlights that Denku offers more block space and lower costs for L2s, where data previously stored indefinitely on the chain is discarded after two weeks.
“This is about scaling in a way that matches our game without paying for decentralization.”
Urosevic echoes these sentiments, citing storage improvements as one of the main effects of the Denkun reform.
“L2 networks can efficiently store information on L1. Blobs are deleted every two weeks, which is enough time for the L2s to manage, retrieve, and verify the data. This makes blobs cheaper than conventional transaction call data, which is stored indefinitely, explains Urosevic.
The result will see Denkun offer lower gas charges and faster transaction fees, which is set to open up opportunities for “new, more complex applications on L2 solutions”:
“Dencun will probably reduce packaging costs by up to 10 times depending on blob space demand.”
Rollups stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of the new reforms, improved by their economic viability and reduced operating costs.
Anurag Arjun, co-founder of data availability blockchain Avail, added that the significant growth in rollover space demand in 2023 suggests that demand for data access from L2s will continue to increase moving forward.
“Proto-danksharding provides some relief, but it's clear that services will need a whole lot more block space for data availability, and we still need to think about how to get this in a way that's decentralized, scalable and secure.” Arjun tells Cointelegraph.
While systematic improvements to the Ethereum network work on lower fees and faster transactions, protocols such as Avail can help address temporary space requests.
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Arjun recently announced that Avail's zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine, Validium, will reduce transaction fees by 90% by posting transaction data to Ethereum.
“It still sits alongside Ethereum and offers decentralized and secure data availability guarantees. This is becoming a very attractive option for blockchains looking to migrate to the Ethereum ecosystem.”
Urosevic describes the endgame of Denkun's update on the Ethereum mainnet, commenting that its implementation will solve switching issues directly on the network for the first time. “Multiple EEPs will result in greater storage efficiency, lower gas bills and an overall better experience for developers, making bundles more cost-effective,” Urosevic said.
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