Ethereum 2.0 release date is still the same November 2020 goal, as per an update from Ethereum Dev Raul Jordan. This is a much needed and much delayed improvement to Ethereum blockchain.
Raul Jordan, Ethereum 2.0 dev, with Ethereum infra builder Prysmatic Labs sums up latest updates on the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap in a blog post. He expresses that if various full scale security checks and/or tinkering user experience finishes on time, November 2020 still looks good as the potential Ethereum 2.0 launch date.
What is Ethereum 2.0?
Ethereum 2.0 is the primary upgrade to the slow 12 TPS Ethereum blockchain. The max it supports is around 14 TPS. The other problem for a long time is ethereum network congestion. Network utilization rate is at around 97% and the average gwei for an Ethereum transaction is around a humongous 100 gwei fee.
Adding to that congestion is the recent rise in DeFi popularity. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is the new age non-custodial products in which speculators have bet big around $8 billion. Most of this surge is all in the last 3 months. Ethereum blockchain has been stretched to its limit. Network is too expensive now, to send small transactions.
However, Ethereum 2.0 is the savior for all these Ethereum blockchain issues. Vitalik Buterin, one of the cofounders of Ethereum, exclaims that Ethereum 2.0 will finally elevate transaction speed to 100,000 transactions per second. This upgrade also shifts the network from energy intensive proof of work blockchain to proof of stake blockchain.
What is Ethereum 2.0 release date?
I’m personally not even moving my Ethereum in this situation and it is in an exchange for some time now. This is very unlike me, because I quickly move it to a safe hardware wallet as soon as I purchase from exchanges.
Ethereum 2.0 has been in development scenario for at least 3 years now with high hopes. But, what we get is all delays after delays even after years of work into building the solution.
Justin Drake, an Ethereum Foundation developer, said in July that the November launch timeline is ambitious. Justin Drake also added that January 2021 launch date seems more likely.
This was, however, disputed by Vitalik Buterin and some other Ethereum researchers. Now, Raul Jordan joins Vitalik Buterin in giving hopes that a Ethereum 2.0 launch in November 2020 is likely. Let’s wait and see what happens.
What Is Still Pending To Launch Ethereum 2.0 Mainnet?
At the moment, Ethereum 2.0 is running in Medalla testnet. Medalla is a public network to act as sandbox environment before the final release to Ethereum mainnet. After the first jolt with not achieving finality immediately after launch, the testnet has been running smoothly without issues.
The dev team says it will hire services of Trail of Bits to do a thorough check. They will be performing the 2nd security audit to Prysm Ethereum 2.0 client. Notably, they used Quantstamp (QSP) for the first security audit.
They want to make sure the divergence from orginal spec in some places for optimization reasons has not affected the quality of their client. This security audit will decide the safety factor in their approach.
Moving into Ethereum mainnet, stakers will feel completely safe after 2 thorough audits of full code from 2 different companies. Additionally, this will also help them identify ways to improve their client with best practices in coding.
Other improvement on Ethereum roadmap includes improving peer to peer node routing to ensure the network will opt more for well behaved peers. Also, punishing the rogue actors.
They are also fixing bugs to make the blockchain more interoperable with other blockchains. Finally, implementing interoperability through adding ETH 2.0 APIs standard to Prysm.
For transparency reasons, the team has a github checklist of items that needs completing to have the Eth 2.0 mainnet launch in November 2020.
