Ethereum developers set roadmap for an eventful 2024

Ethereum (ETH) developers have outlined a comprehensive plan for the network’s development in 2024, including significant upgrades and new proposals after their latest execution layer meeting on Dec. 8.

A key focus is on the deprecation of the Goerli testnet, with a fork scheduled for early 2024. This move is part of the strategy to activate ‘Dencun’ on the Ethereum network in January, marking a significant advancement in its technological capabilities.

Dencun Activation

The Dencun upgrade will introduce a novel concept in transaction processing termed ‘blob-carrying transactions.’ In this context, ‘blobs’ is an acronym for ‘Binary Large Objects’. The primary purpose of these blobs is to refine the way Ethereum stores and retrieves data by reducing the amount of data that must be stored indefinitely on the Ethereum blockchain.

Consequently, the transaction costs associated with data storage are expected to decrease, making overall transactions more economical. It is a critical step toward the long-term goal of danksharding, a planned scaling solution that breaks the network into smaller, parallel segments (shards) to increase capacity and efficiency.

Another notable development is the introduction of a new proposal aimed at enhancing the power of Execution Layer (EL) clients. The proposal, designed to counteract potential censorship in the mempool, would enable EL clients to override local builders using various heuristics.

For instance, clients could override when detecting transactions with excessively high fees pending for extended periods. However, adopting such heuristics has not yet been implemented broadly, with only Geth currently having an open pull request on the issue.

In terms of process updates, the development of a Meta Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) for Dencun has been a significant milestone. This is complemented by a draft for a “Meta EIP backfill,” which aims to provide specifications for upgrades previously lacking Meta…