Ethereum’s Dencun hard fork set to happen next Thursday
Once Dencun has been successfully tested on Holesky's testnet, it will go live on the mainnet.
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Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is set to hit Ethereum’s mainnet on Thursday, February 8, according to a recent Reddit post by Tim Beiko, Ethereum Foundation’s representative. This deployment will follow the Holesky testnet’s final upgrade on February 7.
“Over the next week, we’ll dig into both of these issues, see blobs expire on Goerli, and have Holesky fork. Assuming everything looks by then, we’ll pick a mainnet fork time on next week’s ACDC. By then, we’ll also try and gather testing feedback from L2s,” Beiko noted.
The Dencun upgrade was initially tested on the Goerli and Sepolia testnets last month. Although Goerli encountered some difficulties, Sepolia’s testnet results were overall good.
Galaxy’s researcher Christine Kim offered insights from the Ethereum developers’ meeting, suggesting a high chance that Dencun will happen by the end of March.
Quick notes from today's Eth dev call, ACDE #180:
– Devs are planning to set a mainnet date for Dencun activation *next Thurs on ACDC #127*.
(Devs could feasibly schedule out mainnet activation 3 weeks from the meeting, which would put Dencun activation at end of Feb, instead…— Christine Kim (@christine_dkim) February 1, 2024
Originally scheduled for the end of 2023, the Dencun upgrade experienced delays due to persistent technical issues and the need for more comprehensive preparation across client groups. One of the upgrade’s most anticipated features is proto-danksharding, designed to enhance Ethereum’s scalability and slash transaction costs, benefiting layer 2 protocols.
Following the Dencun upgrade, Ethereum developers will focus on the next set of upgrades, including Prague and the integration of Verkle Trees. However, there’s a controversy within the developer community regarding the prioritization of Verkle Trees due to their technical complexity, which could extend development for over 18 months.
@URozmej commented that state designs are extremely hard and noted the geth flat db took a few years as well as nethermind already 1+ yr down the path of flat db with a few months left in it.
Ultimately verkle will be 1+ yr project minimum.
— ً (@lightclients) January 4, 2024
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