Devcon4: An Ethereum Festival in Prague
Devcon, hosted by the Ethereum foundation, is undoubtedly the biggest event in the blockchain calendar. Members of the global blockchain community come together every year to share ideas and opinions about decentralized applications, Ethereum protocols, blockchain research findings, and more. Held previously in London, Shanghai, and Cancun, the fourth iteration of Devcon was in Prague for four days at the end of October. Tickets sold out mere minutes after their release.
Devcon invites designers, UX researchers, smart contract developers, blockchain researchers, client implementation developers, infrastructure operators, community admins, and event artists who believe in the value of a decentralized future. Sessions large and small will be held all throughout Prague during the event, topics spanning from decentralization projects, seminars on in-depth technology and studies to various algorithm design philosophies and demos of new services.
As a Hashed researcher, I had the privilege of attending Devcon4, meeting many new people, and learning about even more. There were engrossing conversations held left and right, and it’s impossible for me to have an exhaustive report. But here’s my take on the buzziest talking points at this year’s conference, for the BUIDLERs who weren’t able to make it this year.
Ethereum Serenity
Many were on alert for the announcement of Devcon host Ethereum’s next steps. After working to separately adapt the Casper algorithm and Sharding to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) at the beginning of the year, Ethereum announced June that the two will be combined and implemented in one protocol layer.
Vitalik Buterin gave us the official name for this protocol update (informally called Ethereum 2.0 or Shasper after the announcement in June) as Serenity, with a more detailed roadmap. Serenity will adopt a fully PoS-based Casper and Sharding, switch to EWASM, and heed several other improvements that have come up in the past. If successfully implemented, block confirmations could be processed in 8–16 seconds, with a faster virtual machine and vastly improved scalability. Beyond Serenity, Ethereum is looking for ways to add a layer-2 solution that applies CBC Casper and addresses privacy concerns.
- Vitalik Buterin — Latest of Ethereum
- Leah — The history and state of Ethereum’s Casper research by Vitalik Buterin (Korean)
Scalability
Among the 6 tracks of topics at DevCon4, the star was unsurprisingly the scalability track. While the on-chain solutions were discussed mainly through the Serenity update announcement, the 2nd layer solutions, which are added on top of the Ethereum platform, took up much of the conversation in the scalability track.
Since the Ethereum community is dedicated to the decentralization of power, and the foundation seeks to assume as small a role as possible, many individual projects are making their own implementations of the layer 2 scalability solutions. Some of those projects include Raiden Network and SpankChain, who implemented payment channels; L4. Celer, and Perun — state channels; Omisego — Plasma; and Loom Network — Plasma Cash.
I find it somewhat disheartening to think that despite the longtime buzz around Ethereum’s scalability issues, no notable universal solution has been presented. What seems encouraging, though, is that the Ethereum community is proactive enough to have independent projects create their own 2nd layer solutions.
Security
The Security Track sessions brought up security in both code design and transaction generation. Participants discussed what issues should be taken into account to implement a safer code and ways to reduce mistakes that could lead to security liabilities in the development process, as well as efficient ways to audit completed code. There were tutorial sessions on tools for smart contract construction like the OpenZeppelin framework. I expect that hardware security solutions will be mass-adopted for cryptocurrency wallets and custody service security supplements.
The most intuitive and effective method for security in the calculation process is through specialized hardware, a kind of Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that can only process a certain type of calculation in a certain method. This guarantees security but forebodes an excessive dependence on hardware manufacturers.
Privacy
Privacy issues concern not only the Ethereum community but also the general blockchain ecosystem, especially with public blockchains that disclose every bit of data recorded on their blocks. These blockchains are looking for ways to conceal information revealed in each transaction, and to process sensitive information in a safe and secure manner. Zero-knowledge proof and homomorphic encryption, which guarantee cryptographic security, usually come up as viable solutions, although their storage space or processing speed leave much room for improvement (look for a separate blog post on this soon).
Most memorable were the crowds filling the STARKs session with ZeroCash developer and StarWare cofounder Eli Ben-Sasson. It was amazing to see the full house and feel firsthand the level of interest in zero-knowledge proof, even with its highly mathematical execution.
Design, UX, and Developer Experience
A deeper understanding of design and UX was an unexpected boon from Devcon4 for me. With my tech-heavy engineering background, I’d always thought design to be more ambiguous, and unapproachable, industry with no straight answer. The Ethereum community, however, considers design and UX to be crucial factors in the development of a widespread blockchain service. Projects such as Mist, MetaMask, and MyCrypto offer services with their own methodology for improving user accessibility and share their knowledge with the community. My prediction is that Ethereum-based services, which have been in the ecosystem for longer and improved their design, will have a head start for a while on other services in terms of design and UX, at least for now.
We also heard from projects seeking to enhance user and developer experience such as Ethereum Name Service (ENS), the Ethereum development library, and the Web 3.0 development library. They offered presentations, demos, and tutorials on the tools they have for Ethereum based developers.
Governance
Ethereum’s governance system gets wildly mixed reviews. While some say that Ethereum’s governance is the ultimate decentralized system, others argue the opposite, and still, others claim that Ethereum doesn’t really think about governance at all. I think that there’s a lot more to go before we can consider the governance issue settled in the industry. A quote from a session puts it best — ”Ethereum is too disorganized to be centralized”.
Out of the governance models introduced at Devcon4, the 0x project seems to have the best approach, with a kind of indirect democracy that allows token holders to elect a committee, which operates a community grant system. The idea seems simple, but I was impressed by how the project handled the more complex issues of who gains executive rights to the grant funds, what necessitates of a committee of experts, and what kind of devices are needed to avoid conflicts of interest.
A Community of Ethereans
But perhaps my biggest takeaway from this conference is the philosophy that makes up the Ethereum community. The members of this community relentlessly pursue decentralization, creativity, and individuality. They praise those who create for the community and stay wary of excessive financial attachment. I anticipate the world these visionaries are about to create.
I leave you with the “official Devcon 2018 Prague edition theme song” (skip to 8:43).
“B-U-I-D-L
Casper’s coming
Eth 2.0
New ways to govern
Radical markets
Are calling to you
Don’t ICO
When there’s work to do”
Korean article written by Daniel Dongyeon Woo
English translation by Eunsoo Kim (eunsoo@hashed.com)
