Ethereum is a powerful, decentralised, super computer which runs on the blockchain technology. It is a unique project owing to several key innovations that it includes and is a building block to create a new, better, more secure, privacy-oriented, and trustworthy internet.
Ethereum is decentralized – this means that it is a global computer that runs on a network of machines which are called nodes. These nodes are distributed all around the world. This effectively implies that Ethereum cannot be just stopped or its operations halted by unplugging the system. It can be accessed by anyone in the world who wants to run a node of the network from any computer that is connected to the internet. No permission is required to access it. Since Ethereum is decentralized, it cannot be easily hacked as there is no central point.
Ethereum does not belong to anyone. It is not controlled by any single entity, but governed by a community of software developers. These software developers write codes and run the nodes of the network by using their systems. Ethereum is truly decentralised project that is built through the combined crowd sourced efforts of a number of skilled programmers. These programmers could be working individually or as a part of a cryptocurrency development company.Even the efforts that are made for improving the technology from time to time is are coordinated by the Ethereum Foundation – which is a not-for-profit organization. The Ethereum Foundation aims to build a platform that is globally more accessible, free, and trustworthy.
Introducing the Four Stages of Ethereum’s Development
When the Ethereum network was first launched in 2015, the long term roadmap for its complete development was envisioned to be completed in four phases. Each of these phases constituted a set of Ethereum Improvement Proposals.
These proposals were put forward by the Ethereum community and comprised guidelines for a cryptocurrency software development company to follow. The ultimate aim of the guidelines was to help cryptocurrency wallet development companies to work on improving the network’s security, privacy, and scalability.
Stage 1
The first stage of Ethereum, called Frontier, helped cryptocurrency software development companies to mine Ether, build DApps and related tools, and conduct various experiments with the platform to study it further.
Stage 2
The second stage of Ethereum’s development was Homestead which provided various improvements to the protocols and laid the foundations of future upgrades. These improvements played an important role in improving the transaction speed which greatly benefitted cryptocurrency development companiesthat worked on the network.
Stage 3
The third stage of Ethereum development is also the current stage, and is known as Metropolis. This stage ensured easier programming for cryptocurrency wallet development servicesusing the network.
Stage 4
The fourth and final stage of Ethereum is known as Ethereum 2.0. This upgrade is being regarded as the most ambitious upgrade yet and is set to impact and improve each of the network’s aspects. Ethereum 2.0 is planned to be released in four phases between 2019 and 2021.
Ethereum 2.0
Ethereum 2.0 is seeking to solve various issues currently facing Ethereum network.
- Scalability
The Ethereum network is built to support many decentralized applications for which it needs to process a great number of transactions every second. With the increased use of Ethereum network by DApps, on-going transactions, etc., Ethereum network has become slower and less convenient. This is why massively increasing scalability is one of the priorities of Ethereum 2.0.
- Efficiency
Ethereum is becoming increasingly popular and hundreds of transactions are being carried out through Ethereum every second. To ensure the security of its network, Ethereum currently relies on a proof of work (PoW) consensus protocol. However, POW consensus requires huge amount of computational power, time, and electricity – thus making it very inefficient. Increasing the efficiency of the network through Ethereum 2.0 will ensure its improved popularity.
- Environmental Sustainability
Ethereum’s POW protocol necessitates an exorbitantly high amount of energy which in turn reduces the profitability component of mining. At the same time, this has serious negative consequences for the environment and the system’s sustainability in the long run.
- Breaking the Monopoly
Ethereum is susceptible to market monopolization due to its dependence on POW protocols. It bestows an unfair advantage on individuals and organizations that are wealthy and powerful because they can afford a larger number of faster and more powerful computers. This in turn gives them a greater chance at being successful making Ethereum not as decentralized as it was intended to be. Ethereum 2.0 is trying to solve this issue as well.
- Speed and Usability
One of the most important issue that Ethereum 2.0 promises to solve is the speed and usability issue. The introduction of sharding not only removed the efficiency issues but also removed the bottlenecks for transaction speed and throughput. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)executes a code that allows the system to function correctly in a speedy manner. Since it is responsible for a large number of important aspects of the Ethereum network, the speed with which the Virtual Machine is able to perform tasks has a great effect onthe overall speed and usability of the network itself.
In short, Ethereum 2.0 is being designed to solve the major performance issues that are currently affecting the Ethereum network. At the same time, a number of design goals are also set to be covered by the introduction of the upgraded version. Ethereum 2.0 alsointends to introduce many new and complex systems that attempt to reduce network complexity to a great extent. This step is sure to improve the efficiency of the system.
Another major goal that Ethereum 2.0 has is the use of cryptography and various new design techniques that allow a large number of participants to become validators – both in individual transactions and total transactions. The larger goal in this case is to maintain network security and decentralization.
Ethereum 2.0 is also set to have various long-term goals in anticipation of the future potential of the network and the issues that may arise. The most important of these long term goals is to design the release in a manner that ensures that the network can remain live even in the event of a major partition. This condition should also be valid in case a large number of nodes go offline simultaneously.
Cryptocurrency software development companies all over the world are waiting excitedly for the completion of the Ethereum 2.0 rollout to enjoy the various improvements made in the network.
The culmination of over five years’worth of intensive research and development, Ethereum 2.0 is a highly ambitious upgrade.This is deemed as the first time that the cryptocurrency industry is going to see a blockchain of the same size and value as Ethereum attempt to transition all users, as well as assets, to an entirely new decentralized network while keeping all operations on the old network active and running.
