Research & Development

In March 2024, the Ethereum network underwent a significant upgrade with the implementation of EIP-4844, an essential part of the Dencun hardfork, aimed at bolstering Ethereum’s role as a data availability layer. This upgrade introduced "blobs" of data, dramatically enhancing the scalability of Layer 2 solutions by increasing data availability by approximately 100 times. As with any major upgrade, it’s crucial to evaluate its impact, understand its implications, and refine our approach moving forward. To that end, we launched a dedicated data collection round, inviting researchers and developers to delve into the empirical impacts of EIP-4844. The response was overwhelming, with submissions exploring everything from consensus layer security to rollup economics. Today, we are thrilled to announce the winners of this round, who have provided

The Ecodev Coordinators team at EF announces the 11 recipients of the Data Collection grant round, with a total funding amount of 557,660 USD. After reviews, the winners were selected based on their innovative approaches to advancing data collection and analysis within the Ethereum ecosystem. The selected projects span a variety of initiatives, including developing open-source data platforms, creating comprehensive dashboards and analytical tools, establishing network baselines for healthy ecosystems, and understanding the distribution and evolution of the Ethereum ecosystem. These projects aim to enhance the efficiency, security, and applicability of data collection across different domains. We look forward to the contributions of these projects, anticipating advancements that will benefit the Ethereum ecosystem and the broader field of data analysis.

The Ethereum Foundation, along with Aztec, Polygon, Scroll, Taiko, zkSync, announces the 25 winners of the collaborative ZK grant round. Each sponsor contributed 150,000 USD to the shared pool of 900,000 USD. The winners were selected through a rank-choice vote after thorough reviews. The selected projects cover a range of approaches to advancing zero-knowledge proofs. These include developing security frameworks, analyzing cryptographic schemes, creating benchmarking tools for performance and scalability, and integrating advanced cryptographic models into practical applications which will benefit the whole ZK ecosystem. The projects aim to enhance the efficiency, security, and applicability of zero-knowledge proofs across different domains. The grantees include researchers and developers from various organizations and universities, working on both theoretical advancements and practical implementations to address key challenges in

Last week, Ethereum client, testing and research teams from around the world gathered together for a week of intense work on the Pectra network upgrade, PeerDAS and the Verge. Similarly to previous events like Edelweiss 🏔️ or Amphora 🏺, the focus of the Nyota ✨ interop was achieving multi-client interoperability across the different technical tracks. In addition to this, Nyota was preceded with a first of its kind public event: Frontiers Africa, where core devs & researchers spent the day meeting & exchanging with builders from across the region.

TL;DR: - Review the program details for EPF5 🔎 - Applications for EPF5 are open until May 26 📝 - A town hall will be held for an overview and questions on May 21 at 4PM UTC. 🎙️ We are excited to announce that the applications are now open for the fifth cohort of the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF5). The EPF provides a pathway for aspiring protocol contributors to make meaningful contributions to Ethereum. In each cohort, a diverse group is assembled to work toward advancing Ethereum's technology during the fellowship. This includes everything from the development of client implementations, testing and specifications, and participating in the latest core protocol research. The program provides fellows with a unique opportunity to collaborate with other talented individuals,

TL;DR: The EPF concluded the fourth cohort and is preparing for a fifth cohort. Applications will be open soon. In the meantime, explore the new EPF.wiki and sign up to get notified when they open. The Ethereum Protocol Fellowship recently completed its fourth successful cohort, culminating with EPF Day at Devconnect in Istanbul. Its completion marked 4 months of immersive learning, research and contribution to the Ethereum core ecosystem from a group of talented and dedicated fellows. To learn more about EPF, take a look at some of the past posts and repos.

March 12, 2024 update: Since the initial publication of this post, several client teams have made Dencun-compatible releases containing significant performance and stability improvements. While previously announced versions are still considered sufficient for the upgrade, a column has been added to the Client Releases tables highlighting the latest recommended versions for all clients. Mainnet blobs are coming .oO: Two years after its ETHDenver inception, dozens of testing calls and devnets later, protodanksharding is finally going live on mainnet! Dencun will activate on the Ethereum mainnet at epoch 269568, occurring on March 13, 2024 at 13:55 UTC. Node operators & stakers must upgrade their software to releases listed in this announcement. To receive email alerts for future network upgrade announcements, subscribe here.

The Ethereum Foundation is thrilled to announce a collaborative grant round with Aztec, Polygon, Scroll, Taiko, and zkSync to develop Zero Knowledge public goods projects. Each co-funder of the grant round has contributed 150K USD in funds, bringing the total grant pool to 900K USD. The breadth and complexity of the Layer 2 ecosystem has reached a point where identifying shared needs and dependencies requires the participation of domain experts from a range of stakeholders. The co-funders will, therefore, not only provide funding but also participate in the allocation decisions. Beyond more and better-informed funding, we hope this approach will facilitate increasing modularity and use of shared standards in the ZK L2 ecosystem. For this round the research teams have collaborated on a collective wishlist to