Ethereum 2.0: Buterin Gives Update During Bankless Podcast

Vitalik Buterin has given a timeline for the completion of Ethereum 2.0, which is likely to leave a few people disappointed. Buterin was speaking on the Bankless YouTube channel and spoke about a host of topics ranging from maximalism and layer 1s. Buterin also shared with listeners a roadmap that detailed the necessary steps for Ethereum to thrive. 

He also stressed the need for Ethereum to become more lightweight and agile when it comes to blockchain data so that more people can use it. 

Talking About Endgame 

The interview’s main theme revolved around Ethereum 2.0, and in particular, Buterin’s blog post titled “Endgame,” which he had posted in December last year. The blog spoke about a roadmap that outlined Buterin’s vision of a trustless and censorship-resistant chain. Buterin spoke about his vision for an updated path to Ethereum 2.0 during the interview. 

In his “Endgame” blog post, Buterin states that all blockchains will ultimately converge while also listing out tools that would enable block verification to happen in a censorship-resistant and decentralized way. 

The Path To Ethereum 2.0 

Buterin had posted an updated roadmap on 1st December 2020, the first anniversary of the Beacon Change launch. The diagram shows five distinct groupings, titled the merge, the surge, the verge, the purge, and the splurge. Each reference has also been explained, with the merge referring to the convergence of two parallel Ethereum chains. The merge marks the transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. This will occur in the first half of 2022. 

The surge will give Ethereum unprecedented bandwidth, scalability, and throughput. Buterin stated that the merge and the surge are important upgrades in building out Ethereum’s network. Once these two phases are over, Buterin states that Ethereum would be 80% complete. 

“I would say around 50. I’d be willing to go past 60 once the merge is fully complete, and I’d be willing to go past 80 once we have a full sharding implementation.”

The next phase will be the verge, which will enable users to run more nodes, following which we will see the purge and splurge phases, in which the former will eliminate historical data, while the latter will add miscellaneous upgrades. 

Ethereum Is Halfway There 

Speaking about Ethereum’s progress over the past six years, Buterin stated that thanks to the launch of the Beacon Chain, the rise of NFTs, and the London hard fork, “we are 50% of the way there.” He also admitted that Ethereum is not yet ready for direct mass adoption, stressing the need for layer-two solutions and lower transaction fees. However, he stated that there had been significant and “amazing” progress made in layer-two scaling over the past year. He also highlighted the security and safety features of the upgrades. 

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.