Important news on the Ethereum chain in the past 10 days (mid-October 2024):
1. Advancement of Verkle tree technology: Ethereum core developers discussed prioritizing the Verkle tree technology for the upcoming upgrade. This technology aims to improve Ethereum's state efficiency, but its complexity may require some time for implementation.
2. Attention to EIP-7002: Developers emphasized the EIP-7002 proposal, which addresses the staking exit issue on the execution layer and is expected to significantly improve staking design.
3. Consensus improvements in the EIP-7549 proposal: The EIP-7549 proposal aims to reduce the number of operations required to verify consensus rules, thereby speeding up the process and lowering computational costs.
4. Vitalik Buterin updates the 2024 roadmap: Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin shared the 2024 roadmap, reiterating the priority of transaction scalability for expanding Layer 2 networks and addressing the MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) challenge.
5. Concerns about staking centralization: Discussions about the centralization of Ethereum's staking economy continue, particularly the dominance of staking services like Lido has raised community concerns about economic centralization.
6. Controversy over EOF (Ethereum Object Format): The community is still discussing whether to include the EOF feature in the next hard fork, which would simplify the code structure of the Ethereum virtual machine, but no consensus has been reached yet.
7. Focus on Layer 2 scaling solutions: Ethereum Layer 2 networks are making progress, with developers focusing on increasing transaction throughput and reducing costs through scaling solutions.
8. Single Slot Finality (SSF) discussion: Vitalik Buterin supports SSF to address weaknesses in Ethereum's proof-of-stake design, making block finality faster and more secure.
9. Discussion on MEV (Maximum Extractable Value): Ethereum developers continue to focus on mitigating MEV risks, which are seen as potential threats to Ethereum's decentralization and fairness.
10. Upgrades to the proof-of-stake mechanism: The Ethereum Foundation is working on optimizing the proof-of-stake mechanism, with multiple upgrade proposals aimed at enhancing validator performance and improving protocol efficiency.
These news items demonstrate Ethereum's ongoing efforts in scalability, security, and decentralization, while laying the groundwork for further improvements in 2024.
