The full upgrade of Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0 where the ever-popular blockchain network is finally shifting from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to one that relies on the staking mechanism, Proof-of-Stake (PoS) this year. Highly anticipated by developers and crypto traders, this upgrade has been a long time coming since Ethereum was first launched in 2015. Phased roll-outs of different features have been planned for Ethereum 2.0, with Phase 0 centered on increasing the scalability of the blockchain network and slated for a July 2020 launch. No official dates have been confirmed and there are rumours of a possible delay, but updates on Ethereum 2.0 have been aplenty in the past week.
Ethereum’s founder and creator, Vitalik Buterin, announced on Twitter on June 1 that “the initial deployment of Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling strategy has ‘basically’ succeeded” and all that is left is “refinement and deployment”. The expansion of the network’s scaling capabilities is a core focus for the team at present, and the layer 2 scaling strategy as mentioned has so far been tested on StarkWare, Matic Network, Fuel Labs with Reddit Tokens, Tether with the OmiseGo Network and others.
In the same thread, Buterin stated that the new upgrade is exclusively ready for payments, token transfers and decentralized exchanges (DEX) at the current stage. Considering that most of the activities happening on Ethereum’s network fall into one of, or all of the categories, it is expected that the upgrade is first applied in these areas. However, the Ethereum founder also notes that there is a greater challenge ahead after implementing the technical upgrades and that lies in adoption as users will need to use products, such as digital wallets, that can support the upgrade and new features.
However, Uri Kolodny, CEO of StarkWare which was able to implement and test the new scaling layer, was more cautious in addressing its readiness. Speaking to CoinTelegraph, Kolodny admits the vast potential of the second-layer Ethereum scalability technology, but points out that it will take time for others to fully understand and explore the possibilities presented with the upgrade.
In the days leading up to the upgrade, traders have been buying and holding ETH in anticipation of the upgrade’s promised staking rewards and benefits. The price of ETH tokens have been in a steady uptrend since May 11, hitting an almost three-month high on June 2, crossing the $250 mark. It is currently trading at $235.
