Ethereum’s endgame is one step closer…

TLDR: Dencun is a hardfork occuring on March 13, 2024 at 13:55 UTC. This fork enables a quite of EIPs which results in cheaper transaction costs on Layer 1s and Layer 2s

What to know

• Hardfork: a block where new EVM logic is implemented into the Ethereum network

• EIP(s): Ethereum Improvement Proposal(s)

What is a hard fork on Ethereum?

Ethereum is a constantly evolving network, but it is also decentralized as many different teams created node software which finalize transactions. Therefore, new EIPs must be given enough testing and enough time for everyone to properly update their software. The specific block in which new EVM logic is accepted is called a hardfork

What does this mean for me as a user

• Cheaper transactions on L2s such as Arbitrum and Base. These chains will now post transactions via BLOBS to mainnet ethereum compared to congesting the regular transaction flow with other users. Since rollup costs are shared among all users, gas fees per person will be lower

• On mainnet ethereum, rollups are usually the highest gas guzzlers and inflate the cost to get transactions included. With L2s posting in blobs, the transaction cost will be lower per user

• Also, contracts you interact with using solidity version 0.8.24 with evmVersion set to dencum will make use of new opcodes which make your transaction cheaper than before (on L1s and L2s)

  • This only applies to contracts deployed after the hardfork

Why is this hardfork so important?

• As part of the Ethereum endgame roadmap, blob transactions (EIP-4844) are one of the first big steps towards the “endgame” described by Vitalik Buterin (creator of Ethereum)

• “The Merge” was completed in the Paris hardfork on September 15, 2022.

• With the introduction of the Dencun upgrade, Ethereum is closer to completing “The Surge”

• TLDR: the goal is to make Ethereum as decentralized, scalable, and beneficial as possible. Each implemented box puts the network closer to this goal

Want to learn more?

Read up on the EIPs included in the Dencun hardfork:

• EIP-1153: Transient storage opcodes

• EIP-4788: Beacon block root in the EVM

• EIP-4844: Shard Blob Transactions

• EIP-5656: MCOPY - Memory copying instruction

• EIP-6780: SELFDESTRUCT only in same transaction

• EIP-7044: Perpetually Valid Signed Voluntary Exits

• EIP-7045: Increase Max Attestation Inclusion Slot

• EIP-7514: Add Max Epoch Churn Limit

• EIP-7516: BLOBBASEFEE opcode

/End

I kept this entry simple to highlight the gas savings part for the end user. Its hard to say preemptively how much gas will be saved, but its predicted that gas on L2s may go down by 90% (WOW). See the following market for a better idea of the gas savings to expect

If you would like to see a more in technical entry for Dencun or anything else feel free to contract me:

tg: shushant0x

twitter: 0xShushant

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- 0xShushant