Vitalik Buterin, on The Verge: Exploring Ethereum's Future

Vitalik Buterin and his team are working hard on Ethereum’s future. The current roadmap consists of six steps. We already covered three parts, so it’s time for part four, The Verge.

This upgrade should make it easier to verify blocks. Buterin also publishes log and technical articles on these six steps. We simplify his articles in our articles, which should make them easier to understand. As a result, today we take a closer look at The Verge.

What Is The Verge?

The Verge will make it easier to run a node from your laptop, mobile phone, or even your smartwatch. This asks for affordable computation. That’s exactly what Ethereum wants to bring to the table with this upgrade. See the picture below for the roadmap of The Verge.

The verge

Source: Vitalik Buterin’s article on The Verge

  • This update has two main goals.
  • Verification should not need more than a few GB of storage.

In the long term, you should be able to verify the full chain on your smartwatch. You only need to download some data and verify a SNARK. That’s a Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. In other words, ZK tech. ZK tech allows you to prove a transaction, without showing its data. 

Stateless Verification, Verkle Trees, or STARKs?

Currently, when you want to verify blocks, you need a lot of storage. Each consecutive year, you will need more storage. In other words, it’s hard to run your node and be an Ethereum validator. This has to do with state size. In crypto, ‘state’ refers to the current status of the chain’s digital ledger and its VM (virtual machine).

Ethereum uses Merkle trees at the moment. They produce proofs for data points. However, they also need too much storage. Currently, there are two better options available,

  1. Verkle trees. These do the same as Merkle trees but need less storage. They require a smaller proof size.
  2. STARKed binary hash trees. A STARK is a Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge. Currently, they need more time to proof blocks.

Buterein and his team will soon decide which route they will go. See the picture below.

The Verge
Buterin’s article about The Verge
Validity Proofs of EVM Execution

Ethereum has a long-term goal for block validation. Ideally, you only need to download a small part of the whole block. This results in only needing a small proof to verify a block. This would need a SNARK or STARK solution. They would provide proof of the consensus layer and (ii) the execution layer. So, the PoS proof and the EVM proof. 

Currently, validity proofs are not yet secure and take time. However, the goal is to have a prover time of sub 4 seconds. Today it takes around 15 seconds, with current technology available. Increasing prover time has security and decentralization trade-offs. That’s part of the issue that the team is trying to solve.

Validity Proofs of Consensus

Besides the EVM proof, there’s also the need to prove consensus when using a SNARK. However, there are many challenges in this process. It asks for a complete redesign of the beacon chain. This chain launched during the transition from PoW to PoS. You can also call it the heart of the Ethereum chain.

Buterin sees this as a multi-year plan before the devs can install it. For more technical information and updates, please visit Buterin’s article.

Conclusion

The Future of Ethereum is an ongoing project. It follows a six-step roadmap. We already covered all other parts of this roadmap. The Merge, The Surge, The Scourge, The Purge and The Splurge. Today we covered step four, The Verge.

Disclaimer

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