Home
News
- The ‘global state’ of the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem is broken into several parts known as ‘shards.’
- The data on the network is about to reach 1TB in size, and to cope up with that sharding is the best possible solution.
- For the Beacon Chain of ETH2, Phase 0 has a total of 16,384 validators, with at least 524,288 ETH staked for the transition process to take place.
The ‘global state’ of the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem is broken into several parts known as ‘shards.’ The shards, along with the nodes, form the Merkle tree within ETH 2.0. The data on the network is about to reach 1 TB in size, and to cope up with that sharding is the best possible solution. However, several complications might hinder the smooth transition to the Proof-of-Stake mechanism.
Obstacles That lie Ahead for the Ethereum 2.0
The founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, claimed through a tweet that the cost analysis indicates that there is a parallel sharding process in ETH 2.0 that would be too costly for validators. Furthermore, validators who possess more than the minimum amount of ETH required for staking, e.g., 64+ ETH, will face hindrances with a consensus. The nodes carry out the validation process and might want to run multiple shards. Subsequently, the process turns out to be more complicated and capital intensive.
1. Not all nodes will just run one shard; some nodes will want to run multiple shards (eg. validators staking 64+ ETH at the least)
2. For the validator use case, the limitation isn't just time-to-validate a block, it's also raw cost of validation.— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 28, 2020
The complex nature of the network will make the nodes very heavy and impossible to run on laptops. The Buterin tweet has also considered the above aspect if the blockchain network is to be successful on a global scale. For the Beacon Chain of Phase 0 of ETH 2.0 has a total of 16,384 validators with at least 524,288 ETH staked for the transition process to take place.
Fine-Tuning Different Features Towards ETH 2.0
The fine-tuning process of sharding is quite cumbersome, with the single most challenge being the capital infusion. Hence, the various phases of the launch are most suitable for all validators and stakeholders. The latest network aims to improve scalability and reduce the centralization of the process. Centralization because a normal validator will not be able to carry out the process of validation. It will require technology and expertise, which is in the hands of a few.
Ethereum will be scaled up significantly with the sharding process and make it more inclusive. The Proof-of-Stake mechanism is crucial to the ETH 2.0 sharding process, and the algorithm will enable shards to half the hash rate of the Ethereum’s original chain.
