Ethereum and Its Current Scaling Issues:

What is scaling? I suppose I've made it a habit to start with this concept in every piece I write, as it's a significant issue among blockchains: to scale or not to scale. Let's look at an example from today's world to better understand this concept: social media platforms. Have you ever wondered how these platforms manage to operate quickly and efficiently when millions of users are watching videos, sharing pictures, and messaging simultaneously? This is the power of scaling. So, how important is this concept in the blockchain world, especially for Ethereum?

I guess there's no one in the blockchain community who hasn't heard of or used Ethereum. If you're a user of Ethereum and its products, you might have often complained about "Gas fees being too high" or "Transactions being too slow." The Ethereum community continuously makes improvements to solve issues related to energy consumption, scaling, transaction costs, and sustainability. These improvements address the issues I mentioned. Thanks to these solutions, Ethereum is evolving into a more sustainable and scalable structure, becoming Ethereum 2.0. As of March 13, 2024, one of the significant upgrades, EIP-4844, also known as Proto-Danksharding, is expected to go live on the Ethereum mainnet.

There are two main components to Ethereum's efforts to increase scalability: Sharding and Rollups. Sharding aims to expand transaction capacity by dividing the network into smaller pieces (shards). Rollups reduce the data load on the network by bundling many transactions into a single transaction. Rollups have the potential to increase the transaction volume on the Ethereum network while reducing gas fees. However, in the current system, the amount of data that rollups need to store on the main chain still constitutes a significant cost in gas fees. The Ethereum team aims to eliminate this issue with the EIP-4844 upgrade. Let's delve a bit deeper.

How Is It Possible to Reduce Data Costs for Rollups?

EIP-4844 introduces a new type of data called "blob" on the Ethereum network, optimizing data storage and transaction costs. "Blobs" allow for the temporary storage of data pieces in the beacon chain for a short period. Blobs are stored on the Ethereum network only temporarily (1-3 months), allowing for more efficient management of data storage capacity. Temporary storage reduces data storage costs on the network. Nodes can automatically delete old or unused data, using their resources more efficiently. This is particularly important for nodes with lower capacities, as it ensures the network can operate sustainably for a broader user base. The temporary storage of blobs guarantees that rollup operators and users have access to the data they need during the transaction verification process. During this time, the data is easily accessible and usable.

In the Ethereum blockchain, each block has a specific size limit. This limitation directly affects the network's transaction capacity and scalability. Data blobs aim to overcome these limitations by storing more data at a lower cost. Approximately 125-kilobyte blobs allow for more data storage on the Ethereum network while reducing the gas costs required for processing and storing this data.

In Ethereum, gas fees are calculated based on how much space a transaction occupies on the network and how much computational power it requires. CALLDATA, carrying transaction data, has a direct impact on gas costs depending on the amount of data it contains. Therefore, optimizing the use of CALLDATA is a significant way to reduce gas costs.

Full-Danksharding: The Next Step in Ethereum's Scalability Journey

The ultimate goal of this approach, when fully realized, is to achieve a vision known as "Full Danksharding." This vision aims to significantly expand the network's data processing capacity by increasing the number of blobs added to each Ethereum block from four to sixty-four.

One of the innovations brought by Full Danksharding is the significant increase in Ethereum block size. For instance, adding four blobs would increase the block size by an extra 512 kilobytes, while six blobs would increase it by 768 kilobytes more. This extra space is reserved only for blob transactions and does not store the data in the traditional block space permanently. This feature aims to increase the Ethereum network's data storage and processing capacity while keeping the computational load on nodes to a minimum.

For Full Danksharding to be successfully implemented, Ethereum needs to integrate two fundamental technologies: Data Availability Sampling (DAS) and Erasure Coding.

DAS ensures that even a portion of the block data is available, maintaining the integrity and security of the network. This reduces the risk of data loss and ensures the network operates more reliably. On the other hand, erasure coding is a method used to recover the original data even in the event of data loss. This technique is critical for maintaining data integrity and increasing the network's resilience.

Proto-Danksharding and its ultimate goal, Full Danksharding, offer modern and innovative solutions to Ethereum's scalability issues. These technological advancements provide the infrastructure needed for the Ethereum network to support more users and transactions. The integration of techniques like DAS and erasure coding improves Ethereum's data processing capacity while keeping the computational load on nodes to a minimum, enhancing the overall performance and security of the network. The future of Ethereum is brighter with these innovations, increasing the potential to revolutionize blockchain technology.

Hello, I'm Aysen. I would be very happy if you could give feedback on my blog. Here are the channels through which you can reach me:

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Sources I used while creating my article:

https://domothy.com/blobspace/

https://medium.com/offchainlabs/eip-4844-what-does-it-mean-for-l2-users-5e86ebc4c028

https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/protodanksharding-what-it-is-and-how-it-works/