According to CoinDesk, Ethereum developers have confirmed the dates for implementing the blockchain's biggest upgrade in a year, known as Dencun, on two key test networks. This major upgrade, or 'hard fork,' will enable 'proto-danksharding,' a technical feature that will decrease the cost of transactions on layer 2s and make cheaper data available on the blockchain. Before being triggered on the main blockchain, developers will conduct a dress rehearsal of the protocol changes on the Sepolia and Holesky test networks (testnets) on January 30 and February 7.
The announcement comes after the upgrade that took place last week on the Goerli testnet, which successfully went live despite some minor hiccups. Dencun will be triggered on Sepolia at 22:51 UTC and at epoch 132608. If everything goes as planned, the final test for Dencun will occur on Holesky on February 7 at 11:34 UTC, at epoch 950272. After that, developers will set a date for Dencun to hit Ethereum's mainnet, now targeted for the end of February or early March.
Tim Beiko, the protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, advised those running a node on either network to update it now. The Dencun upgrade aims to improve the Ethereum blockchain's efficiency and reduce transaction costs, benefiting users and developers alike.
