[ad_1]
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has had a lot to say in the past few weeks. On April 25, Buterin appeared on The Shitcoin Dot Com Show to discuss the release of Ethereum 2.0.
During the Interview, Vitalik was asked what people should do with their Ethereum miners once the network changes from its current algorithm Consensus to a model in which this specialized hardware is no longer necessary. At present, Ethereum uses a custom version of Proof of Work, called Ethash. This system requires large amounts of computing resources to validate new blocks on the Ethereum blockchain. A first milestone in the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap is the migration to the Proof of Stake, a competitive consensus algorithm which allows users to validate blocks using their own accumulated wealth on the network.
In response to how he would like to see the use of outdated mining hardware, Vitalik revealed:
“This is definitely not going to get 100% of the miners, you may get a small percentage at most, but: zero knowledge tests.”
The power to share evidence without knowledge
Zero Knowledge Tests, or ZKPs, are an information exchange protocol. They allow two parties to share with each other that they know part of the information, without actually revealing what the information is.
In the context of blockchain technology, zero-proof transactions are useful for users who want to maintain a higher level of anonymity. Projects like Zcash use a unique iteration of ZKPs, called zk-SNARKS, which allows users to send fully encrypted transactions natively, while remaining verifiable under network consensus rules.
Buterin, who has often spoken about his love for ZKPs, went on to say that there has been, “this kind of huge and silent technological revolution that occurs with zero knowledge tests,” continuing to elaborate on that:
“They are very powerful. First, they give you a lot of privacy. Second, they give you a lot of scalability, because instead of verifying a really big thing, you only have to verify a really small test. You can use them to verify the validity of the things, you could potentially use them to replace Merkle trees, cut the branches of the Merkle tree and the witnesses from hundreds of kilobytes to a couple of kilobytes, and all of these nice things. “
Exciting times on Ethereum Land
Discussing what Vitalik refers to as “Ethereumland,” the 26-year-old developer seemed to have little apprehension when it comes to the most significant update to the Ethereum network since its original release in 2015. He admitted it:
“It’s definitely a little less distressing than the first time, just because I’ve been through all of this before. Definitely nervous about the anticipation, but also very excited to see all of this finally air.”
Adding:
“It is important to remember that until very recently, ETH 2.0 was basically an idea and a dream, as far as most people could tell.”
While the release date for Ethereum 2.0 has not yet been announced, Prysmatic Labs publicly launched the first ETH2.0 test network, called Topaz, on April 18. Speaking frankly about the occasion, Vitalik admitted: “It is definitely a great milestone for us.”
Keep reading:
