Ethereum Developers Discuss Key Upgrades in Latest ACDE Call
By Luisa Crawford
On September 26, 2024, Ethereum protocol developers gathered virtually for the 197th All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) Call, led by Tim Beiko, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol Support Lead. The bi-weekly meeting, aimed at coordinating updates to Ethereum’s execution layer (EL), concentrated on forthcoming Pectra and Fusaka upgrades, including Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and performance issues.
Pectra Upgrade Developments
The developers agreed to limit the Pectra upgrade to the eight EIPs currently active on Devnet 3. Discussions also included the potential addition of four EIPs related to Ethereum’s blob fee market at a later stage. Parithosh Jayanthi, EF Developer Operations Engineer, announced a resolution for a bug in the Teku-Erigon systems on Pectra Devnet 3. However, ongoing concerns such as a Lighthouse state root mismatch and increased block propagation times during validator deposits require further investigation.
In an effort to test network capacity, the team created 100,000 deposits on Devnet 3, which led to the issue of increased block propagation times. Mikhail Kalinin, a Teku developer, is working on changes to the consensus layer (CL) specifications to address this. Planning for the launch of Pectra Devnet 4 is actively underway, with an anticipated launch within two weeks.
Fusaka Upgrade Plans
The subsequent hard fork, Fusaka, will include the PeerDAS and EOF EIPs. Tim Beiko confirmed this and mentioned that additional EIPs might be added as their implementations progress. Beiko also introduced a new EIP for the upgrade following Osaka, dubbed Amsterdam, which would integrate EIPs like Verkle that were initially considered for Osaka.
BLS MSM Benchmarks
During the meeting, developers discussed the repricing of BLS precompiles in EIP 2537. Geth developer Jared Wasinger proposed a 20% cost increase, a recommendation that received widespread support. Beiko suggested incorporating BLS repricing in Devnet 4 and asked for detailed benchmarking analyses to be completed by the next call.
Execution Requests as a Sidecar
Mikhail Kalinin proposed a generalized method for execution layer-triggerable requests, such as validator withdrawals. This proposal received broad support and emphasizes updating several EIPs—6110, 7251, 7002, and 7685—in preparation for Pectra Devnet 4.
Contract Audit and Blob Capacity Debates
The Ethereum Foundation is seeking third-party audits for smart contracts linked to three EIPs in Pectra. Proposals are due by October 11, 2024, with decisions expected on October 22, 2024.
A significant debate arose among developers about increasing blob capacity as part of the Pectra upgrade. Vitalik Buterin and EF Researcher Dankrad Feist advocated for the increase to aid scaling usage, while other developers expressed concerns about the lack of sufficient data on node performance impacts. Beiko suggested limiting the scope of Pectra and postponing the decision on blob-related EIPs until more data is gathered.
There was also a discussion on the risk of home stakers missing blocks post-Dencun due to insufficient bandwidth. Developers agreed to obtain more data to understand the impact of blobs before making a final decision.
Next Steps
To finalise Fusaka’s scope, Beiko underlined the necessity of waiting until implementations of PeerDAS and EOF are complete on the devnets. He also noted that the Verkle EIP would likely be included in the subsequent upgrade, coined Amsterdam. Developers aim to launch Pectra Devnet 4 before the next ACDE call in two weeks, with continued testing and discussions to crystalise the upgrade's final scope.
Source: Noah Wire Services