Ethereum Developers Announce Date for Dencun Upgrade
Ethereum developers have confirmed that the highly anticipated Dencun upgrade will take place on March 13. This decision was made during a coordinating call, triggering the countdown to Ethereum’s most significant upgrade since April 2023. The upgrade includes Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 (EIP-4844), also known as Proto-Danksharding, which introduces “blobs” spaces within blocks to store more information and lower transaction fees on layer-2 blockchains. Rony Szuster, a crypto analyst, explains that these changes will make layer-2 fees at least 10 times cheaper. The successful implementation of Dencun on Ethereum’s test networks has paved the way for its deployment on the mainnet.
Time and Impact of Dencun Upgrade
The Dencun upgrade is scheduled to occur at slot 8626176 on the Ethereum mainnet, specifically at 13:55 UTC on March 13. Developers have until February 22 to release their final versions of Ethereum clients with Dencun support, and validators will have two weeks to update their nodes. Aside from Proto-Danksharding, the upgrade will also reduce the cost of data on Ethereum, making it more appealing to developers and users of projects like Avail, EigenDA, and Celestia. Although the upgrade had faced delays due to technical issues, it has undergone thorough testing to ensure a smooth rollout on the mainnet.