Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. It is the pioneering blockchain that applied blockchain technology to several traditional industries. After facing network congestion issues and high Ethereum gas fees, the developers behind the blockchain started implementing a series of upgrades.

Currently, Ethereum upgrades take place when they are proposed with the Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). The ongoing series of Ethereum upgrades are supposed to make the network sustainable, scalable, secure, and efficient. But, are they succeeding? How far Ethereum upgrades have come? Let us find out in this article.

Overview of Ethereum

Ethereum holds a special place in the crypto industry being a pioneer of decentralized applications. It was developed by Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, and others with an initial vision of creating a “one global computer for the entire planet”.

Ethereum introduced smart contract technology to the tech world. It brought remarkable applications like non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance (DeFi), metaverse, GameFi, and more.

Initially, it failed to address the scalability issues and skyrocketing gas prices on the blockchain network. Adding to that the environmental concerns of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism are added to the list of Ethereum issues.

In the meanwhile, blockchain networks such as Cardano, Polkadot, and Solana emerged claiming to be “Ethereum Killers”. The strong developer team behind the Ethereum decided to address all these challenges with a series of upgrades on the network. Let us now discuss the upgrades that were successfully implemented till now.

Recap of Ethereum Upgrades

Even though the Ethereum network has undergone numerous upgrades, the actual Ethereum 2.0 upgrade started with the Beacon Chain Genesis in December, 2020. Beacon Chain implementation was the first step in transforming Ethereum’s consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Following several small improvements such as Muir Glacier, Beacon Chain’s functionality was improved.

Ethereum London Upgrade

Ethereum London Upgrade marks an important milestone in reforming the gas fees on the Ethereum network. It brought changes to the gas fees with the help of Ethereum Improvement proposal 1559 (EIP – 1559). Ethereum London Upgrade went live in August, 2021 and introduced a new gas fee system.

The Merge

After the London upgrade, multiple improvements like the Berlin upgrade, Arrow Glacier, and Altair took place on Ethereum. Bellatrix upgrade was implemented in September, 2022 to prepare the blockchain for the most-awaited “The Merge” event. It played a critical role in transitioning the last block of PoW mechanism to the first block of the PoS chain.

Finally, the groundbreaking “Ethereum Merge” or the Paris upgrade was implemented in September 2022. With this, Ethereum created history in the blockchain industry. It achieved an impossible feat of transitioning from PoW consensus mechanism to PoS. This is an important milestone in making Ethereum a sustainable blockchain.

Shapella Upgrade

The latest Ethereum upgrade, Shapella, took place on April 12, 2023. Shapella upgrade is actually a combination of two upgrades – Capella and Shanghai. This upgrade implemented EIP-4895 and enabled validators to withdraw their staked ETH funds. As a result, liquidity of Ether was improved, by making staking rewards accessible. The successful implementation of Shapella upgrade led to Ethereum price rally and regained its $1,900 position in the market.

Ethereum Upgrades: What’s Next?

So far, Ethereum reformed its gas fees and became a sustainable blockchain. The next set of upgrades primarily focus on scaling.

Danksharding is the next significant Ethereum upgrade that uses distributed data sampling to make Ethereum more scalable. This plays an important role in improving scalability. Additionally, it also makes making the network more decentralized by managing vast sets of data generated by layer2 rollups.

Proto-danksharding, which is EIP-4844, will be implemented before full danksharding. It introduces temporary data blobs and ensure that they can be seamlessly transmitted. Full danksharding is expected to be completed by early 2024.

Apart from this, Vitalik Buterin introduced a 5 phase Ethereum roadmap – The Surge, The scourge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge. Each phase includes each upgrade of the Ethereum network as follows.

• The Surge relates to the scalability
• The Scourge relates to censorship resistance
• The Verge relates to the verification of blocks
• The Purge relates to reducing the computational costs
• The Splurge includes remaining improvements

No matter the terminology used by the community, the vision behind these upgrades is the same – to develop a sustainable, scalable, and secure Ethereum blockchain network!

Conclusion

So far, Ethereum’s journey through its upgrades is nothing short of remarkable. The development team has already achieved a big milestone when they successfully implemented “The Merge” event. The Ethereum developer team’s commitment to become a more decentralized, scalable, secure, sustainable, and efficient platform is driving its evolution. The network’s ability to transform as per the improvements is its strength. When all the Ethereum upgrades will get implemented, we will see if it becomes a global super computer for the entire planet!

FAQs

What are Ethereum upgrades? 

The Ethereum development team is implementing a series of improvements on the network to make the network more efficient and scalable. These improvements are called Ethereum upgrades.

How long will the Ethereum upgrade take? 

It might take 2 to 3 more years for all the Ethereum upgrades to be successfully implemented on the network.