Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum PoS network goes live this year, with only a few validators in Phase 0

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin discussed the plans for Ethereum 2.0 in an interview at the Stanford Blockchain Conference on February 19. Buterin explained that the main development of Ethereum 2.0 this year is the release of Phase 0. He says:

"Phase 0 is the first phase of the Ethereum 2.0 release. This will release the PoS network and will go live this year."

Although the official release date for Phase 0 is still unknown, Buterin explained that Phase 0 is close to having a multi-client testnet and auditing existing code. He states:

"Many optimizations for Phase 0 are currently in progress and we will continue to refine them in the coming months."

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Ethereum 2.0 roadmap

After the launch of Phase 0, Buterin stated that Ethereum 2.0 will start as a separate PoS network. He explained that the purpose of this is to allow the PoS system to start slowly in order to prove its capabilities. He explained:

"Ethereum 2.0 will start with no applications and only a few validators."

However, he pointed out that the next phase will start the first phase of Ethereum 2.0, when sharding will be enabled. According to a blog post from the Ethereum 2.0 testnet client Prysmatic Labs, Ethereum 2.0 will include a central blockchain called the Beacon Chain, which will coordinate all 64 sides called shards chain.

The article explains that each shard will be a complete PoS system, containing an independent state and transaction history. Not all network transactions will be processed, and each node will only process transactions for specific shards.

If successfully deployed, sharding will provide new possibilities for the scalability of Ethereum without compromising the security and decentralization of the network. Vitalik pointed out that once the Ethereum 2.0 network stabilizes, Ethereum 1.0 will be merged into the 2.0 system to complete the transition.

Concerns about Staking

On February 5th, the Ethereum 2.0 development team conducted an AMA on Reddit. The main focus of the Ethereum community during this event was the transition to a PoS system. As a PoS network, asset holders are rewarded for their actions to protect and verify the network by holding coins. Ethereum 2.0 will require 32 ETH to become a validator.

In addition, a user pointed out during the AMA that the staking model may lead to a growing wealth gap and rich people will get more rewards. However, Danny Ryan of the Ethereum Foundation believes that PoS systems are more fair than PoW systems. He says:

"In both cases, owning an asset yields a return. The difference between the two is that in the PoS mechanism, the relationship between capital and return is more direct and fair."

New expansion plan is born with Ethereum 2.0

Buterin also pointed out that while testing and developing Ethereum 2.0, new expansion solutions are constantly being produced, which are compatible with Ethereum and can solve some of its main challenges. For example, "Optimistic Rollups" is a second-tier structure that makes smart contracts scalable.

Offchain Labs co-founder and chief scientist Edward Felten said that their product "Arbitrum Rollup" can already be tested in real time on the testnet. "Arbitrum" is the first Rollup system for general smart contracts. Felten explained:

"Offchain Labs is trying to expand and improve performance on Ethereum and reduce the cost of smart contracts in a way that is compatible with the existing Ethereum blockchain."

According to Felten, applications written in Solidity smart contracts can be imported into the Arbitrum toolchain. This creates a custom sidechain for developer applications, but the security of these applications is anchored to the Ethereum main chain. He says:

"There is a set of participants in the application and they will jointly advance the application. However, this will be checked on the Ethereum main chain to ensure secure anchoring. We will transfer almost all the work from the main chain to the participant application, which actually It's just an ordinary computer, not part of the Ethereum chain. "

Felten also made it clear that Offchain Labs does not compete with Ethereum, but instead provides a compatible second-tier solution to address performance and scalability issues. When asked if Arbitrum needed a solution like Ethereum 2.0, Felten said:

"We hope that Ethereum 2.0 can bring the advantages of a second-tier solution like our product, but we are not just waiting."

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