The much-anticipated Ethereum network update, Denkun, has passed a major hurdle, becoming active on the Sepolia testnet on Tuesday. The development follows activation on the Goerli testnet earlier this month.
Denkun introduces “proto-danksharding” with the number one proof-of-stake blockchain. Proto-dunksharding is designed to reduce transaction costs for Layer-2 blockchains, making data access cheaper and solving scalability issues. This latest update lays the groundwork for full-scale “danksharding,” which further calls for cost reductions and performance gains.
After full implementation, Denkun will allow the Ethereum network to handle more than 100,000 transactions per second more cheaply.
The last of the three testnet deployments, called Holesky, is scheduled to go live on February 7. After this test is completed, a date will be set for Denkun's activation on the main Ethereum blockchain.
“Dunksharding is how Ethereum will become a truly scalable blockchain, but many protocol improvements are needed to get there,” the Ethereum developer wrote on the official Ethereum website. “Proto-danksharding is an intermediate step along the way.”
Denkun's update also introduces ‘blobs', which are originally intended to reduce transaction costs on the Ethereum mainnet by compressing transaction data off-chain, reducing storage and processing overhead.
Data temporarily stored in blobs is only needed for a short time to confirm transactions and can be safely deleted to avoid overloading the network. Cryptographic commits ensure that any changes to the data are still detectable, allowing for secure and efficient data management.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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