LATEST UPGRADE

Ethereum Evolved: The Dencun Upgrade

The Dencun Upgrade focuses on solving scalability pain-points by improving Ethereum’s data availability layer through a method known as proto-danksharding. Proto-danksharding allows layer two (L2) rollups to post data on Ethereum for at least 10 times less than current methods like calldata, significantly reducing gas costs for users and unlocking new use cases for developers.

What is the Dencun Upgrade?
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EIP-4844 Explained
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How EIP-4844 Optimizes Linea
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Lowering L2 transaction fees through EIP-4844
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EIP-4788 Explained
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What is Data Availability?
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What are Data Blobs?
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Future protocol upgrades Dencun enables
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How to prepare for the Dencun Upgrade
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What is The Dencun Upgrade?

There are 9 Ethereum Improvement Plans (EIPs) included in the Dencun Upgrade: EIP-5656, EIP-6780, EIP-7044, EIP-7045, EIP-4788, EIP-7514, EIP-1153, EIP-7516 and EIP-4844. The most impactful of them all is EIP-4844 which introduces proto-danksharding — the first step towards full danksharding implementation on Ethereum for new levels of scalability unlike we’ve ever experienced before.

The Dencun Upgrade introduces a new type of data to Ethereum: data blobs.
Data blobs are a cheaper, more efficient way to use Ethereum L1 data for L2 rollups.
Lowering fees for Ethereum L2s means cost savings for the entire ecosystem.

EIP-4844 Explained

As the flagship EIP within the Dencun Upgrade, EIP-4844, introduces proto-danksharding to Ethereum mainnet, laying the cryptographic foundation for full danksharding later on.

Lower gas fees on L2s unlock innovation and adoption unlike ever before.
No more high gas fees on L2s that price out high transaction use cases.
What dapps will you build with lower gas fees?

How EIP-4844 Optimizes Linea

Learn more about the Dencun Upgrade Part 5, EIP-4844

Read the Article
Learn more about Dencun Upgrade Part 5, EIP-4844

“Dencun improves Ethereum's resiliency and enables the implementation
of the Confirmation Rule”

— Roberto Saltini, Sr Staff Researcher

Lowering L2 Transaction Fees through EIP-4844

One of Ethereum’s greatest barriers to adoption is the price of transactions on the network - they are too high to incentivize mainstream adoption. EIP-4844 is the first step in solving this problem, because it allows for all the L2s part of Ethereum’s rollup centric roadmap to operate at a fraction of the cost. This means cost savings for the entire ecosystem.

Data blobs are 10x cheaper than calldata, lowering gas fees for all users.
Nearly 95% of rollups’ operating cost come from calldata.
EIP-4844 means L2 rollups no longer need to suffer from L1 congestion.

EIP-4788 Explained

Although EIP-4788 is more self-contained than EIP-4844, it does have implications for validators and stakers on Ethereum today.

Validators and Stakers are the network participants most impacted.
A new oracle at the protocol level that relays Ethereum’s consensus state to the execution layer.
EIP-4788 lowers the trust assumptions of staking pools and restaking protocols.

Learn more about the Dencun Upgrade Part 3, EIP-4788

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Learn more about Dencun Upgrade Part 3, EIP-4788

“Bring on the blobs”

— Sally MacFarlane, Sr Staff Blockchain Protocol Engineer

What is Data Availability?

Data availability means data that is stored on Ethereum is accessible and retrievable by all network participants. The Dencun Upgrade doesn’t change this, but rather makes data availability more efficient by optimizing the amount of data a block can store.

Blocks will contain 3 blobs per block with a max of 6 blobs for improved throughout.
Data blobs make data availability more scalable for rollups.
EIP-4844 simplifies data availability for Ethereum L2s.

What are Data Blobs?

Data blobs are a new type of data resource that EIP-4844 (proto-danksharding) introduces to Ethereum. Data blobs were specifically designed for L2s to have their own data marketplace (versus competing with the entire network) to improve their efficiency and lower transaction costs.

We’re moving from a block space world, to a blob space world.
Data blobs can contain any type of data, primarily rollup transaction data.
L2s will soon include data blobs in their developer experience for dapp developers.

“Reducing L2 gas fees benefits
the entire ecosystem”

— Stefan Pignel, Protocol Engineer at Consensys

Future Protocol Upgrades Dencun Enables

The major upgrade that the Dencun fork prepares Ethereum for in the future is full danksharding. At Consensys we believe the best way to build Ethereum is with the modular approach each protocol upgrade achieves – one step at a time.

EIP-4844 lays the groundwork for data availability sampling.
KZG is a new cryptographic feature EIP‑4844 makes possible.
Proto-danksharding is the first step toward full danksharding.

How to Prepare for The Dencun Upgrade

The best way to prepare for the Dencun Upgrade is by thinking about what you can build or how you can improve your existing dapp with cheaper transaction fees. Teams at Consensys, the Ethereum Foundation, and beyond are taking care of the technical details that including blobs into dapps require.

What will you build with lower gas fees?
L2 teams must add blobs to the networks and start testing.
No fiction. Just lower fees to inspire new use cases.

Keep learning about the Dencun Upgrade

You can watch all videos on the Consensys YouTube page and deep dive into the technical details of each EIP in this editorial series.