What's New in Eth2 - 29 January 2021

--- tags: newineth2 description: The latest update on Ethereum 2.0 development image: https://benjaminion.xyz/f/favicon-96x96.png --- <style> a {text-decoration: underline;} a {color: #0000ee;} a:visited {color: #551a8b;} </style> # What's New in Eth2 - 29 January 2021 ![My avatar](https://benjaminion.xyz/f/ms-icon-144x144.png =32x32) Ben Edgington (Eth2 at [ConsenSys](https://consensys.net/) — all views expressed are my own) Edition 61 at [eth2.news](https://eth2.news/) ## Top picks It's all about looking back and looking forward. Top-top pick is Danny's [The State of Eth2, Jan 2021](https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/01/20/the-state-of-eth2-january-2021/) which is full of superb insights. But also see start of year write-ups from a couple of the client teams, covering similar ground from different perspectives: - The [Lighthouse team](https://lighthouse.sigmaprime.io/update-33.html)'s plans for the year. - And the [Prysm team](https://medium.com/prysmatic-labs/prysmatic-labs-2021-update-494def64f0b5) is looking ahead (as are we all). ## The Beacon Chain All continues to run super smoothly on the Beacon Chain. We have 74,000 active validators with 15,000 queued to get in, representing 2.85 million staked Ether, worth (at this moment) $3.8 billion. Stakers who have been in since the start, 2 months ago, will have earned around 0.7 ETH (2.2%) already on their stakes, although overall rewards have dropped to [around 10%](https://twitter.com/Eth2Bot/status/1354957531815309323) per annum now. Nonetheless, stakes continue [to pile in](https://twitter.com/terencechain/status/1352127054410498049). Etherscan has made a [breakdown of deposits](https://bi.etherscan.io/public/dashboards/KH9jbP687szqlAnHiNEfNictrwNhvdOEQl0PwB6m?org_slug=default) by depositor and category (exchange, pool, whale, other). The distribution seems reasonable so far. The frequency of [slashings](https://beaconcha.in/validators/slashings) continues to fall, with just three individual slashings in the last two weeks, as people get the hang of this thing. There's no indication of any systemic reason for the slashings; just people acting against all warnings and running the same validator in multiple places. Leo Bago of the Barcelona Supercomputer Center posted some interesting results on the EF research Discord from the [Beacon Chain network crawler](https://github.com/leobago/BSC-ETH2/tree/master/armiarma) they are developing (which uses a [fork of Rumor](https://github.com/Cortze/rumor/tree/gossip-metrics) to gather the data). <a href="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/746343380900118528/804341671734542346/PeersPerClient.png"><img width="600" height="360" alt="Pie chart of the distribution of beacon nodes by client type and version." src="https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/746343380900118528/804341671734542346/PeersPerClient.png"></a> Distribution of beacon nodes per client type and version (From Leo Bago. Click image to enlarge.) I find this one especially interesting as I know from graffiti analysis that Teku has a minimum of 12% of the validators on the network, which means that, on average, Teku nodes host double the number of validators of other nodes. This likely reflects Teku having greater adoption amongst larger staking operations, and less among individual stakers. It fits with our product goals, but it's also worth saying that Teku is a fine client for individual staking too: it's [not just for institutions](https://twitter.com/ConsenSysAcad/status/1354419503283712002)! <a href="https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/746343380900118528/804375482875117578/peerspercountries.png"><img width="600" height="360" alt="Bar chart of the distribution of beacon nodes by country." src="https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/746343380900118528/804375482875117578/peerspercountries.png"></a> Distribution of beacon nodes by country (From Leo Bago. Click image to enlarge.) ### HF1 (the upgrade) I wrote [last time](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/wnie2_210115#Upgrade-1) about the plan to upgrade ("hard fork") the Beacon Chain in mid-year. The plan has been fleshed out in a [proposed HF1 document](https://notes.ethereum.org/@vbuterin/HF1_proposal). Client teams are studying the proposals and aiming to decide on the next devs' call (11 Feb) what goes in and what gets bumped for now. ### Roadmap When sharding? When merge? Pretty much the only questions I get asked these days. And I don't yet have great answers. Sorry! As outlined [last time](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/wnie2_210115#And-beyond), we plan to work on the specs for both of these during Q1, and decide on a priority and timeline then. A big step forward will be a workshop next week between the client teams and EF R&D where we'll be diving into the details of the designs. This workshop is invitation only, but will be recorded and distributed soon afterwards. You too will be able to learn all the delightful secrets of [KZG Commitments](https://dankradfeist.de/ethereum/2020/06/16/kate-polynomial-commitments.html)! (Formerly known as Kate commitments.) See the Top Picks, [above](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/wnie2_210129#Top-picks), if you want to get a better sense of what the next couple of years might look like. ### Tooling The [Blst](https://github.com/supranational/blst) BLS12-381 library has been around for a while, and adopted by most, if not all, of the client teams. Nevertheless, it was [formally announced](https://medium.com/supranational/introducing-blst-2b6a988d68ee) last week. The Nimbus team is running a [dashboard challenge](https://our.status.im/nimbus-grafana-challenge/) to design them a Grafana metrics dashboard. Cash prizes are available; closing date February 5th. [Stereum](https://stereum.net/) has [updated](https://stereum.net/mainnet-update-for-ethereum2-docker-compose/) their [docker compose files](https://github.com/stereum-dev/ethereum2-docker-compose) for the Beacon Chain mainnet. This is interesting: [u/ZarrenW](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethstaker/comments/l6bk11/i_built_a_site_for_prospective_stakers/) has built a site to gather configurations of people's staking rigs to help newcomers to judge what the requirements might be. the site is [here](https://stakerate.xyz/); just hit the search button to see what's there already. As I write, only 4 contributions so far (done mine - look out for Metal Albert!), but it looks potentially useful if well curated. ## The Great Explainers The [third installment](https://consensys.net/blog/developers/how-to-monitor-your-eth2-validator-and-analyze-your-pl/) of Coogan Brennan's great staking adventure is out. In this one he sets up monitoring for his node, and analyzes profit and loss. These articles are gold. I love Jacek's occasional threads with insights into aspects of client development. The latest is on [state transition timings in Nimbus](https://twitter.com/jcksie/status/1353655937253441537). I always learn something good from these. Attestant is [charting inactive Ether](https://www.attestant.io/posts/charting-inactive-ether/), which is (mostly) the staking rewards that validators are accumulating in excess of the 32 ETH maximum stake. This Ether is unproductive: it cannot be used, and is not earning rewards. Elsewhere, Jim McDonald is looking at ways [to liberate](https://ethresear.ch/t/simple-transfers-of-excess-balance/8263?u=benjaminion) this unproductive Ether. I am deliberately avoiding promoting individual staking operations here (how to [get a mention](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/eth2_news/https%3A%2F%2Fhackmd.io%2F%40benjaminion%2Fadvertising)). But Rocket Pool are OGs and something of an exception. Ahead of the impending launch of their staking pool they are publishing [a series](https://twitter.com/Rocket_Pool/status/1352499117444874240) of articles to explain how it all works. It really is fascinating, and they have thought through the architecture very thoroughly. Here's [Part 1](https://medium.com/rocket-pool/rocket-pool-staking-protocol-part-1-8be4859e5fbd). Justin Drake makes the bullish case for cryptography with [Moon Math](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycK3AUTdl1w) on the Bankless podcast. Audio and description [here](http://podcast.banklesshq.com/49-moon-math-the-bull-case-for-cryptography-justin-drake). It's not super-technical at all, and an enthusiatic intro to some of the innovations we are building on now and anticipating soon. We're finally putting the "crypto" into "cryptocurrency". Not strictly Eth2, but here's a nice gentle piece on [formal methods](https://consensys.net/blog/developers/embracing-the-power-of-formal-methods-in-my-coding-journey/) by my colleague Joanne Fuller at ConsenSys. I mention it because Joanne is part of the team using these techniques to [formally verify](https://consensys.net/blog/blockchain-development/formally-verifying-the-ethereum-2-0-phase-0-specifications/) the Eth2 spec. Finally, an opinion on the [taxation of staking](https://gordonlawltd.com/ethereum-2-tax-guide/) and rewards (US oriented, but accords with my own best guess at the situation in the UK). From December; I missed it at the time. ## Media Apparently, leopards can shange their spots. Back in 2018, out of pique, I refused to do an interview with Coindesk because of their constantly hostile coverage of Ethereum at the time. More recently, I have not only [written](https://www.coindesk.com/time-to-launch-ethereum-2-beacon-chain) for them, but appeared on a [podcast](https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-2-0-staking-need-to-know). I largely attribute the welcome shift in attitude to Christine Kim's persistent and accurate reporting over the last couple of years. Now she has teamed up with Will Foxley to produce the [Valid Points](https://www.coindesk.com/eth-2-0-first-hard-fork-coming-valid-points) Ethereum 2.0 newsletter, which is frankly excellent. Thay are even running their own Eth2 validator :tada: Never any hint of hostility from Bankless :wink:. Here they are on [decentralised staking pools](https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/how-ethereum-can-democratize-eth2). (Haha, David also refers to Rocket Pool as OG :joy: I honestly hadn't noticed that!) ## Eth2 devs' call Call #56 took place on the 28th of January. * [Agenda](https://github.com/ethereum/eth2.0-pm/issues/200) * [Video](https://youtu.be/_WK3k_k-4w8?t=342) * My [quick notes](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/H1FdGQxlx). Alex Stokes also made [tweet-form notes](https://twitter.com/ralexstokes/status/1354806080207917065). It was a pretty short meeting. Aside from the usual client updates, we had some discussion around testnets and timing for the forthcoming upgrade. ## Upcoming events - 2nd February, 21:00 UTC: Eth2 research workshop. This is an invite-only session for client devs, but a recording should be up by the end of the week ~~, and it may also be streamed.~~ **Update**, it [will be streamed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGeIDNEwHjs). - 21:10-22:40 Part 1: The Sharding Design and the Cryptographic Primitives (Dankrad Feist and Vitalik Buterin) - 23:00-24:00 Part 2: The Eth1+Eth2 Merge - Vision and Approach (Mikhail Kalinin, Guillaume Ballet, and Danny Ryan) - 4th February, 16:00 UTC: [Eth2 Staking for Institutions](https://twitter.com/Consensys/status/1355091856661639170) webinar. Featuring ConsenSys Codefi Staking, Securosys, Microsoft, and Ledger. - 5th February: deadline for the Nimbus [dashboard challenge](https://our.status.im/nimbus-grafana-challenge/). * * * [![[Twitter]](https://benjaminion.xyz/newineth2/img/twitter.svg =40x40)](https://twitter.com/benjaminion_xyz) Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/benjaminion_xyz) to hear when the next edition is out 🙌. [![[RSS]](https://benjaminion.xyz/newineth2/img/rss.svg =32x32)](https://benjaminion.xyz/newineth2/rss_feed.xml) We also have an [RSS feed](https://benjaminion.xyz/newineth2/rss_feed.xml). [Advertising](https://hackmd.io/@benjaminion/eth2_news/https%3A%2F%2Fhackmd.io%2F%40benjaminion%2Fadvertising) on this newsletter. [Give Feedback](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfkESc4CmNfRGHHjWfNeF3ceLwrXDvynetda4sKfJFJ71Oabw/viewform).

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