Key Takeaways:
- Ethereum is making a shift from Eth1 and Eth2.
- Ethereum is also undergoing other changes.
- This renaming won’t affect the roadmap of Ethereum.
The protocol Ethereum is undergoing significant changes. Client teams are upgrading it to meet global demand while improving its security and decentralisation. Another significant change is its shift from ‘Eth1’ and ‘Eth2’ terms. Core developers replaced these terms with ‘execution layer’ and ‘consensus layer’ respectively from late 2021.
The scaling of the network in a decentralised manner and its transition to proof-of-stake has always been a part of Ethereum’s roadmap. However, researchers started working separately on these efforts and decided to combine them into a single roadmap under “Ethereum 2.0”. Therefore, the existing proof-of-work chain (Eth1) was disapproved via the difficulty bomb. As a result, users and applications were shifted to a new, proof-of-stake Ethereum chain, Eth2.
Soon after work began on the Beacon Chain, it became evident that it would take several years to deliver Ethereum 2.0 fully. Furthermore, it could not be used because of mental models, inclusivity, scam prevention, and staking clarity. Therefore, research initiatives were revived, and it was determined that the Beacon Chain would be ready earlier than other components of the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap. This led to an “Early Merge” proposal.
Many users are concerned about this update changing the roadmap of Ethereum, but it doesn’t. This change only represents a name change and not in the current roadmap of Ethereum.
