Ethereum 2.0 meets Blocklancer
In this article, we will talk about the recent roadmap of Ethereum 2.0 and all the effects the new Ethereum 2.0 roadmap has for Blocklancer. We are eagerly following the development of Ethereum. The roadmap totally changed during 2018. The POS testnet has been scrapped and we got a new roadmap that combines POS + Sharding and recently the Ethereum 2.0 Specification has been released (read the spec).
As you may know, the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade will be the biggest upgrade of the Ethereum network. Because Blocklancer is built upon the Ethereum Blockchain, this upgrade will have major effects on Blocklancer itself.
What is Ethereum 2.0
Ethereum 2.0 (aka Serenity) combines 3 main projects:
- Proof of Stake (POS): Currently, Ethereum has a similar Proof of Work consensus algorithm like Bitcoin. The major difference between the Bitcoin POW and the current Ethereum POW is that Ethereum uses Ethash as hashing function whereas Bitcoin uses the classic SHA256 hashing function. Ethash makes Ethereum a bit more GPU friendly, but it is still possible to gain higher hashrates by utilizing ASICS like in Bitcoin (for more details you can look at the discussion about ProgPOW). Ethereum 2.0 will move to a completely new consensus algorithm called Casper.
- Sharding: In simple terms, Sharding means that the Blockchain is split up in different smaller Blockchains and Smart Contracts can live on different chains. Sharding will boost the Ethereum Blockchain to a new level of scalability and decentralization.
- eWASM: eWASM stands for Ethereum flavored Web ASemBly. eWASM is meant to be the new Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). For everyone, who wants to learn more about eWASM please read here.
All these features will be implemented in different phases:
- Phase 0: POS beacon chain without shards
- Phase 1: basic sharding without EVM
- Phase 2: EVM state transition function
- Phase 3: Light client state protocol
- Phase 4: Cross shard transactions
- Phase 5: Tight coupling with main chain security
- Phase 6: Super-quadratic or exponential sharding
Ethereum 2.0 + Blocklancer
We are looking forward to new updates of the Ethereum research team and the Ethereum 2.0 implementers. Ethereum 2.0 will bring many optimizations to the current version of Blocklancer.
- Sharding: Sharding will allow higher TPS on-chain. At the moment every DApp on the Ethereum network is extremely limited by the low TPS, the current network offers (look at the Cryptokitties situation). With Sharding, it will become possible for the Blocklancer team to further decentralize the system. The goal is to have a completely decentralized freelancing system that is unstoppable.
- eWASM: The new Ethereum virtual machine will allow more efficient smart contract code and lower gas fees.
- POS: Freelancers in the Blocklancer network, will have the possibility to form Staking Pools. This way, the income of freelancers is not just sitting around in some online account (like in Fiverr), whereas it is possible to participate in the network consensus and earn some additional income. In the current specification 32 ETH are required to become a Validator. Many people will not own 32 ETH and therefore the formation of staking pools will be a natural process.
Uncertainties surrounding the Ethereum 2.0 Roadmap
One major concern about the Ethereum Roadmap is that there is still some uncertainty about the time schedule. According to some implementers, it could be possible to see a first tesnet of Phase 0 in March 2019. For other phases there is still no exact date.
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