
The Ethereum Dencun upgrade is set to go live on the mainnet on March 13, following its successful deployment on the Holesky testnet on February 7. This upgrade, also known as Proto-Danksharding, will introduce blob-carrying transactions to increase block space on Ethereum layer 2s.
Proto-Danksharding aims to reduce the number of blobs in each block to 16, with each blob being no larger than 128 kilobytes (KB), thereby increasing block space by roughly 2 megabytes (MB). This additional data space will enable optimistic and zero-knowledge rollups to post commitments to transaction data on-chain and provide actual data in blobs rather than 'calldata.'
The Dencun upgrade is considered the most significant update to Ethereum since the Shanghai upgrade. Proto-Danksharding, also known as ETH Improvement Proposal 4844 (EIP-4844), is generating excitement within the Ethereum community.
The upgrade on the mainnet is scheduled for slot 8626176 on March 13, pending developers' approval and GitHub confirmation. Ethereum clients with Dencun functionality are expected to publish their final versions by February 22, giving validators two weeks to update their nodes.
Once implemented, the Dencun upgrade is expected to improve the Ethereum network's capabilities, enabling it to process between 30,000 and 100,000 Transactions Per Second (TPS) and reduce gas prices, addressing a significant bottleneck.
The Dencun upgrade's deployment on the Holesky testnet marks a crucial step in the process, with developers confirming it as the final testnet release before the mainnet activation. Testnets like Holesky are essential for identifying and fixing bugs and errors before upgrades are deployed to the mainnet, ensuring a smoother transition for users and the public.
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