Ethereum announced a major upgrade called “Deneb-Cancun” or “Dencun” a while ago. Reportedly, it was supposed to fix the scalability issues while implementing an improvement proposal named EIP-4844. However, the development team recently revealed that the much-awaited upgrade may get delayed. Before getting into the nitty-gritty of it, let’s learn what Dencun really is.
What Makes Dencun So Significant?
As mentioned above, the upgrade will help Ethereum to be more scalable. It will bring changes across the network’s two mainnet layers: the execution layer and the consensus layer. While the former will supervise smart contract execution, the latter will take care of consensus via staking. Moreover, the upgrade will be implemented in a categorized fashion.
The one that will be applied to the execution layer will be called Cancun. On the other hand, the consensus one will be known as the moniker Deneb. Thus, together they are called Deneb-Cancun. The most notable feature of this upgrade is the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844. Also known as proto-danksharding, this proposal will accelerate the network’s scalability.
Moreover, it will take the existing capabilities of Layer 2 solutions ahead. The EIP-4844 will activate the retrieval of off-chain data and temporary storage by Ethereum nodes. By doing so, it will address the storage and data requirements of various blockchain applications. Also, developers are expecting that EIP-4844 will bring down the transaction costs on Layer 2 rollup solutions. Programs like Arbitrum and Optimism will benefit from this update.
What is the Reason Behind the Delay?
On September 21, Ethereum’s consensus-layer team held a meeting to discuss the launch plan for Dencun. The moderator of the meeting, Tim Beiko from the Ethereum Foundation, expressed concerns about the delay. He said that the upgrade lacks exposure to public testnets like Holesky, Goerli, and Sepolia. He also underlined the significance of Dencun’s launch before Devconnect, an Ethereum-focused developer conference slated for November 2023.
Beiko said that if Dencun isn’t launched before the conference, its mainnet activation may not happen this year. According to him, it could impact some other plans of the network as well. Nevertheless, he took cognizance of the current situation and accepted the impending eventuality. He said that there are many technicalities to reckon with and the time is not sufficient. So, probably, the Dencun’s deployment on the mainnet will happen after Christmas.
Additionally, he explained that Dencun’s seamless deployment will depend on different factors. From the readiness of client teams to consensus layers and software code, everything will have to be perfect. Additionally, they all have to be tested on public testnets. This exercise will take plenty of time. Currently, the upgrade work is going through the “devnet phase”.
During the conclave, developers talked about a localized developer network called “Devnet 9”. The developers want to use this framework to assess the functionality of Dencun. The testing on Devnet 9 will probably happen next week before it goes to the public testnet phase. While the upgrade may get delayed, users would rather wait than use subpar functionalities.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/09/23/much-awaited-dencun-upgrade-of-ethereum-maybe-behind-schedule/