The long summer of DeFi seems like a blip when compared to the wait endured for Ethereum 2.0.
Today Vitalik announced on Twitter that today (01.12.20) will mark the launch of phase 0 of the proof-of-stake chain.
Ethereum 2.0’s beacon chain is scheduled to go live at noon on December 1, 2020. The launch marks the beginning of a process that means the ETH2 network will not be fully functional until further upgrades are completed later in 2021. Those holding ETH do not need to worry or take action as there is nothing to be done at this moment in time.
ETH holders contributed the required amount of ETH—over 874,000 ETH thus far, well over the required 524,288 to get things moving with the chain.
“You do not need to do anything with any ETH you’re already holding,” the Ethereum Foundation said in a service announcement.
For the time being, until further upgrades arrive, Ethereum 2.0 does not offer users anything new. As the Foundation’s explainer puts it, “It won’t be like the Ethereum mainnet of today. It can’t handle accounts or smart contracts.”
Instead, so-called Phase 0 introduces proof of stake, in which ETH holders lock up their crypto for a chance to earn a portion of the block rewards.
As mentioned, if your holding ETH you don’t need to do anything right now. On the other hand, 2 major exchanges, COINBASE and Huobi this morning announced that they are now offering users ETH 2.0 staking rewards. Coinbase customers will be able to convert ETH in their Coinbase accounts to ETH2 and earn staking rewards.
What’s next?
Despite today’s news, we are still some way off the final destination. In late 2021/2022 it is expected that phase 1.5 will be reached at which time ETH1 and ETH2 would join to form a new ‘usable’ blockchain.
Shard chains, ideally arriving in 2021, theoretically allow the blockchain to handle more transactions per second than the current proof-of-work Ethereum, which has been plagued by congestion issues in 2020 as DeFi and Exchange dapps rose to prominence.
Those members of the community wanting to contribute to the build-up can stake ETH to the network but also run a client and earn bug bounties by testing each upgrade before it goes live.
Ethereum price
At the time of writing there has been a slight impact on the price of Ethereum. A 6% increase in token price is observed in the last 24hrs. Although it is hard to call a direct correlation as the price has been steadily rising over the last few weeks.
One thing is clear, this is good news for the Ethereum community and the wider blockchain sector as the ‘king of the blockchains’ gets set to keep fighting and retain its crown.
