Popular blockchain platform Ethereum disclosed plans some time ago to launch a protocol upgrade. The upgrade, dubbed Ethereum 2.0, is expected to put an end to all of Ethereum’s scalability issues.
Ethereum in recent times has been ridiculously slow, and gas fees are at an all-time high. The increase in scalability issues on the blockchain platform has been linked to the surge in DeFi protocols. According to analysts, there’s no better time to launch the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade than now.
In line with these findings, the blockchain platform announced the proposed launch of its ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain upgrade. The upgrade is slated to go live on December 1, 2020, so far as certain requirements are met. For the Beacon Chain to go live, the network must have a minimum of 16,384 validators, with each validator staking at least 32 ETH tokens.
All Requirements Met
As of Monday night, the platform hit the proposed benchmark, indicating that ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain will go live as planned. The ETH 2.0 deposit contract raised over 540,000 ETH (approximately $325 million). Ethereum blockchain met the set target with only a few hours to spare. A whopping 150,000 ETH was deposited about 24 hours before the target was met. The news of this accomplishment was met with huge excitement.
Several crypto enthusiasts tweeted about the upcoming upgrade.
The genesis block is now set 🙂
genesis time: 2020-12-01 12:00:23 GMT
validator count: 21,063— Justin Ðrake (@drakefjustin) November 24, 2020
About the Beacon Chain
ETH Beacon Chain, in actual fact, is expected to run simultaneously to the current Ethereum blockchain. The Beacon Chain will also not in any way affect DeFi protocols as well as already existing users on the platform. Stakers on the Beacon Chain will also serve as validators, subsequently earning rewards for carrying out essential processes on the platform. Also, please note that to become a validator, users need to stake at least 32 ETH. Validators will receive approximately a 20% reward annually on their staked tokens, and over 21,000 validators will also be required on the network at launch.
Interestingly, the protocol upgrade is slated to take place in four initial stages. The Beacon Chain is only the first step towards the ETH 2.0 mainnet launch. Among the upgrade is also the blockchain’s proposed shift from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently disclosed why the network was making this iconic shift to a PoS algorithm.
Altcoin Buzz also recently published an article on the step-by-step process of staking on the ETH 2.0 proposed Beacon Chain.
ETH Price
At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $594.29, with a market cap of $67,568,462,847 and a 24-hour trading volume of $19,480,653,273.
Find out more about the proposed ETH 2.0 launch on the Altcoin Buzz YouTube channel.
