By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 16th, 2024
Ethereum 2.0 which is built to work on the Proof of Stake Network has been facing delays and postponement in going live as attributed to bug fixing. The developers planned the upgrade of the proof-of-stake algorithm for June.
The world of cryptocurrencies is vastly characterized by uncertainties brought about by the inherent volatilities in the space, this is not just attributed to tradings involved in cryptocurrencies but also in the development strides by each networks’ developers as currently being observed by the continuous delay in the release of the much-awaited Ethereum 2.0. While there are no doubts that Ethereum 2.0 will eventually go live due to trust the Ethereum developers have gained over the years, there is however a level of uncertainty as to the date even with Vitalik Buterin’s mentioning of the July launch (though he later explained what he meant). The real Ethereum 2.0 release date is still unclear.
Ethereum Network
Vitalik Buterin, a pioneer cryptocurrency researcher and programmer was the first to propose the Ethereum protocol in 2013. Although Ethereum was formally launched on 30th July 2015 after a series of crowdsales that took place in the previous year. Ethereum since its inception has gained good traction trailing only Bitcoin in market capitalization, and acceptance.
The Ethereum blockchain innovation was built on the Proof of Work model which stands as the original consensus algorithm in a blockchain ecosystem. Using this proof of stake model, miners can compete with each other in a bid to confirm transactions and earn rewards. While the Proof of Work model helps to prevent DoS attacks in the network, and create easy mining possibilities, it, however, presents huge expenditures due to the huge cost of setting up and running a mining block and complicated computations that have little or no applications to other spheres of technology except blockchain
Drive for Protocol Upgrade
The drive to replace the Ethereum networks’ Proof of Work with a Proof of Stake has been on since almost the time the network was launched in 2015. The push to switch protocols is expected to help remove the bottlenecks inherent in the Proof of Work model. With Ethereum 2.0 fully built with the Proof of Stake network, transaction validation (mining) will be based on the amount of the digital asset the miner owns. This will eliminate the huge computing and power requirement needed to maintain a mining rig as obtainable in proof of work and also limits the extent to which a miner can attack the system, as doing so may prove unproductive
Reasons for the Delay of Ethereum 2.0 Release Date and Post-launch Expectations
The detection of bugs in the new Ethereum 2.0 code is the main reason for the postponement initially set for January 2020. The network is currently under development for seven clients and most of them are working on optimizations for the Schlesi test network which will represent the first Ethereum 2.0 multi-client test network that simulates the core network environment. Before launch, all these networks and clients have to be properly synchronized so there will be no post-launch code-breaking which can bring panic to the new ecosystem.
Upgrades of this nature can have a profound impact on the brand image of a blockchain network owing to the fact that Ethereum’s major competitors including Algorand, Tezos, Cosmos, Harmony and Qtum all have either an operational product or those decidedly close to completion. A dent will be made on the Ethereum brand image should the Ethereum 2.0 be delayed much longer. Nonetheless, with July being the decisive month, if stakeholders’ anticipation is not flawed, then the entire wait will be worth it.
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