Ethereum ‘Verge’ Upgrade to Enable Nodes on Phones and Smart Watches
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said the network's next upgrade, called “The Verge,” is intended to make Ethereum more secure and accessible, allowing the node to run on devices as small as “a phone or smartwatch.”
Verge aims to reduce hardware requirements by using “stateless verification,” which allows nodes to verify blockchain blocks without storing large amounts of data.
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Stateless proof
One of Ethereum's challenges is increasing the amount of data required to operate a node, which currently requires “hundreds of gigabytes of state data,” according to research from Paradigm.
Verge will introduce stateless authentication, which Buterin says will fully authenticate the chain with the computing power that every mobile wallet, browser wallet, and even smartwatch is running by default.
The transition to stateless authentication means that Ethereum nodes do not need to store the entire blockchain, which reduces technical barriers for users, including private states.
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Dry trees vs. The Starks
In a blog post on The Verge, Buterin initially focused on implementing Verkle trees, a cryptographic framework designed to reduce proof size and enable stateless authentication.
He acknowledged concerns about the Verkle tree's vulnerability to quantum computing;
“Verkle trees are vulnerable to quantum computers, so after replacing the existing KECCK Merkle Patricia tree with Verkle trees, we need to replace the trees again.”
Developers are considering scalable knowledge arguments (STARK)-based binary hash trees that provide a long-term and scalable view of security while dealing with quantum risks.
Chart showing Verkle trees with STARK options. Source: Vitalik Buterin
Related: Buterin Offers Solutions for Ethereum Staking, Block Production Issues
Multi-dimensional gas and solitary confinement
Verge includes proposed changes to the network's gas spending system to make it stateless in accordance with Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-4762.
The proposed change incorporates what Buterin calls “multidimensional gas” and balances gas fees with resource-intensive cryptographic operations to ensure network scalability and security.
A graph showing the trade-offs between data, computation, and blockchain gas limits. Source: Vitalik Buterin
This new proposal separates gas costs for call data, computation and state access to provide improved management of Ethereum resources in addition to improvements in hardware demand reduction.
With these proposed changes, Buterin aims to make standalone pinching more viable and accessible by enabling node functionality on smaller devices.
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