Ethereum Developers Gradually Approaching Launch Ethereum 2.0by entering into deposit contracts. The first phase of the launch, i.e. the Beacon Chain, will launch on December 1st.
Wednesday November 4th Ethereum Chief Developer Afri Shoedon объявил on the launch of Ethereum 2.0 deposit contracts. This is the first physical implementation of Ethereum 2.0.
Escrow contracts act as a bridge between the existing Ethereum Proof of Work (PoW) mainnet and the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 blockchain Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The genesis time, that is, the first block of Ethereum 2.0, is scheduled for December 1 of the next month.
After the deposit contracts take effect, Ethereum participants can deposit 32 ETH, the minimum threshold for betting on Ethereum 2.0. In addition, to launch the Beacon Chain, validators will need to deposit a total of 524 ETH into the contract. This will kickstart the Beacon Chain, also called the "genesis" event for Ethereum 288.
After the Genesis event, stakers will start earning inflationary rewards for providing their ETH as collateral. Ethereum 2.0 staking rewards are lucrative, offering 8-15% annual interest. In an email, Ethereum 2.0 researcher Danny Ryan wrote:
“We are all excited. It has been a long time since countless researchers, engineers and community members have contributed blood, sweat, and tears to this project. It's nice to finally embark on the long-awaited Ethereum consensus on proof of stake. ”
While the Ethereum developers look poised for the launch of the Beacon Chain, the Medalla testnet launch hasn't brought much success. There was a clear lack of participation due to the lack of tangible incentives during the testing phase. In addition, some users have also reported software issues. However, the ETH 2.0 development team believes that most software clients are "ready to launch on the mainnet."
Expected future developments with Ethereum 2.0
The entry into force of the deposit contract is an important step towards the launch and use of Ethereim 2.0. The entire Ethereum team has been working on this over the past few years, having faced many challenges during their journey.
The Ethereum 2.0 release will likely take place in different phases, each of which will add new features to the existing main chain and future PoS blockchain. In addition, at each stage, these features are implemented through hard forks or by modifying backward incompatible code.
Ethereum blockchain software company ConsenSys has also weighed its opinion on the launch of deposit contracts. ConsenSys Eth 2.0 developer Ben Edgington said:
“The deployment of the deposit contract is the point of no return for Eth2. We now have no other choice but to finish the job. After 2,5 years working on this, I am incredibly excited about where we are and what lies ahead.”
Ethereum remains the top choice for new DeFi applications on the market right now. However, the existing Ethereum network faces restrictions to accommodate a large number of DeFi projects. Eth 2.0 will solve this problem by offering developers and users massive scalability.