As part of its effort to scale efficiently, Ethereum is set to embark on its next upgrade, identified as Sharding. This stage of Ethereum upgrade has to do with splitting the network into several portions known as “shards.” Each shard contains its autonomous set of account balances and smart contracts. Apart from enhancing Ethereum scalability, Sharding will help reduce the cost of storing data by minimizing hardware requirements. This thus empowers anyone to become a validator, thereby increasing greater decentralization and security on Ethereum.
Recent Upgrades on Ethereum
In recent years, Ethereum has been consistent in its effort to advance its network. This is due to the rise in the popularity and adoption of the blockchain, thereby causing a surge in congestion. Occasioned by this development, the team behind Ethereum decided to come up with plans that will position the blockchain into a more sustainable, scalable, and efficient platform for DeFi applications. This initiative birthed the development of Ethereum 2.0, featuring numerous upgrades, including Sharding in its roadmap.
The execution of Ethereum 2.0 started with the Beacon Chain in 2020. Then, the team behind the protocol upgraded the chain to start producing blocks. It introduced Proof-of-Stake consensus into the Ethereum network. Later in 2021, the team proceeded in its quest to implement the Ethereum 2.0 initiative. Then, it launched the Berlin upgrade in a bid to fully optimize gas fees for EVM operations on the network.
Similarly, the London upgrade was also implemented the same year. This upgrade brought about Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 (EIP-1559). This came into effect so as to change the handling of the network’s transaction fees. Other upgrades that took place on Ethereum in 2021 included Altair and Arrow Glacier.
In 2022, Ethereum, despite the downturns in the crypto market, proceeded with its development plans. It started with the Gray Glacier and Bellatrix network upgrades. Later that year, it executed a very significant upgrade that fully migrated its activities from PoW to PoS. This upgrade is regarded as The Merge. Around 2023, it launched the Shanghai upgrade too. This upgrade enables validators to unlock their staked ETH on the network. Sharding is expected to be the next significant upgrade and will certainly be implemented before the end of 2023.
How is Sharding important important to Ethereum Blockchain development?
Ethereum sharding is important to blockchain efficiency due to how it helps provide solutions to major issues combating every network. Ethereum sharding is effective toward ensuring the decentralization of the network. This is due to how it aids developers to run nodes without altering the size of their database.
More so, altering to a higher capacity of a database will aid centralization as validators will be compelled to meet certain technical standards. The technical demand of maintaining a higher database will discourage the addition of more developers to the network, as it is too expensive to maintain. Consequently birthing a centralized atmosphere.
With Ethereum sharding, the flexibility of nodes will hit a new height barring the need of developers to own sophisticated computers to run the nodes. In a common sense, spending little on powerful computers and other hardware will help cut costs required in maintaining data storage.
Meanwhile, since the requirement for a sophisticated device has been eliminated through sharding, more developers will definitely join the network. By that, there will be an increase in network participation, which in turn ensures the decentralization of the network. Ultimately, the security of the network will attain a new height as a result of the blockchain’s decentralization.
Further, another way in which Ethereum sharding is important to blockchain efficiency is through enhanced performance. It is worth mentioning that Ethereum sharding uses various chains to ensure the swift processing of transactions. The use of multiple chains to some extent will help improve the TPS of the network.
In return, the network will have more capacity and technical support to process transactions swiftly. Likewise, having more technical capacity to process transactions will result in low network congestion. At the end of it all, eliminating network congestion will birth a significant reduction of gas fee.
Conclusion
On the flip side, despite offering an improved service, the security of Ethereum sharding is still up for debate. This is due to how a bad actor can disrupt the smooth running of the network. Nonetheless, the dynamic nature of the blockchain landscape has helped proffer solutions to this shortcoming. Against all odds and doubts, the role of Ethereum sharding to blockchain efficiency cannot be overemphasized.