ETH 2.0 Scheduled for December, Vitalik Deposits $1.4M Worth of Ether Into Phase 0 Contract

This December the cryptocurrency community may see the first introductory phase of the highly anticipated Ethereum 2.0 consensus change. On Wednesday, the Ethereum Foundation published ETH 2.0 specifications explaining how the genesis phase will be invoked. Moreover, on November 5, Ethereum’s cofounder Vitalik Buterin sent 3,200 ETH to the genesis phase deposit contract in order to begin staking after the shift.

For quite some time now, the ETH 2.0 transition was postponed and it seems the first phase is set to begin on or around December 1, 2020. The first stage of ETH 2.0 is often referred to as “phase 0” and Ethereum developers claim the transition will reduce energy consumption. The blockchain will also introduce shard chains, but most people these days are discussing how proof-of-stake (PoS) will be implemented.

Being a PoS blockchain, ETH owners will be able to stake their coins and run validator nodes. Anyone will be able to stake within the Ethereum network, as long as the owner owns a minimum of 32 ETH. According to the Ethereum Foundation, ETH 2.0 is shipping in phases and network participants can see the roadmap here.

On Wednesday, November 4, the Ethereum Foundation’s Danny Ryan published an update called “eth2 quick update no. 19.” The update shows the specifications for the phase 0 launch, which is expected to happen on or around December 1. Additionally, Ryan published the mainnet deposit contract address that will be used to trigger the staking deployment.

“To trigger genesis at this time,” Ryan wrote. “There must be at least 16,384 32 ETH validator deposits 7 days prior to December 1. If not, genesis will be triggered 7 days after this threshold has been met (whenever that may be).”

Ryan also detailed that the mainnet Launch Pad is up and running, and he stressed that people should make sure they leverage the correct deposit contract address. “Check, double-check, triple-check the deposit contract address before sending any funds anywhere,” Ryan stressed.

In addition to the announcement from the Ethereum Foundation, the cryptocurrency’s cofounder Vitalik Buterin has sent funds to the deposit contract address. According to the Etherscan data, Buterin sent 3,200 ETH ($1.4 million using today’s exchange rates) to the address. At the time of publication, there’s approximately 39,173 ether worth $17.3 million held in the ETH 2.0 contract address.

A number of Ethereum proponents are excited about the ETH 2.0 phase 0, but ETH 2.0 has had its share of skeptics as well. A Medium post called “The Real Challenge for Ethereum 2.0” written by Robert Greenfield IV notes that “plutocracy is a threat to ‘decentralized equity.’”

In the blog post, Greenfield says that the emerging blockchain sector might be “doomed to inherit the inequities of the traditional technology sector.”

Meanwhile, in another blog post author, Adam Cochran, shows seven reasons why “ETH 2.0 will create the next economic shift.”

Cochran further states:

The best reason for this growth, and one that only ETH 2.0 can really claim, is actual demand for the asset, as use for gas in a decentralized computer. With the release of ETH 2.0 (among other improvements) we’re going to see ETH drastically increase its tx/s and therefore its commercial and consumer viability. Gas clogs, high transaction costs, long wait times in dapps all go away, even in a busy market.

Meanwhile, the other roadmap phases (1 & 2) are expected to launch during the next few years and the network will likely operate a lot differently. Ethereum proponents hope that the phase 0 launch will be successful and everything will work smoothly according to plan.

With approximately 39,173 ETH in the deposit contract address today, the deposit address needs around 485,115 more ETH to initiate the trigger’s 524,288 ETH threshold.

What do you think about the Ethereum 2.0 launch expected to happen this December? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Etherscan