Ethereum is a decentralized smart contract platform that is focused on building self-executing contracts on the Blockchain space, that will allow certain contracts to be executed automatically, once some demands for the contracts are met. Ethereum is the pioneer of smart contracts and decentralized applications. Gestated by a young Russian named Vitalik Buterin to build a smart contract Blockchain in 2013, his idea caught a lot of attention, and later seven other developers joined. Vitalik found Ethereum which is the first smart contract to be built, and the vision was to create a world decentralized computers.
With Ethereum it is possible for almost everything that affects our socio-economic life to be decentralized and activities relating to it with manpower all is put into computer codes to run automatically on certain terms and conditions. Activities running from finance, energy, governance, healthcare, media, data storage, etc, Ethereum works like a self-operating computer with no third party interference needed. Click to read about DApps and Smart Contracts here.
Ethereum network went live in July 2015 and ETH cryptocurrency is the platform currency as it is used to incentivize miners on the Ethereum network. Now Eth ranks second on coinmarketcap with a market capitalization of $19 billion plus.
What is Ethereum 2.0 Casper
Casper is a new accomplishment for Ethereum, that will convert the Ethereum network from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake. Although the Ethereum network works, one of their major problems is performance and scalability. If you have been using the Ethereum network, you are likely to experience things like clogging on their network and this new implementation was made to solve the performance and scalability issues in order to push for adoption. Ethereum 2.0 comes with implementing PoS mechanism where resources needed to validate ETH transactions won’t be costly as well as fix the issue of security on 51% attack and as we know by now PoS is environmentally friendly and it is easy setting up a node. So basically, the Casper implementation is to convert Ethereum to Proof of Stake mechanism.
How Does Casper Work
This current network Ethereum is using now is the Ethereum 1.0 and Ethereum Co-Founder Joseph Lubin said we can think of Ethereum 1.0 as a prototype as they were built to let people see how it is possible to build decentralized applications, as they knew the Ethereum 1.0 would not be scalable. The new implementation removes miners and replaces them with validators where it gives staking power to the validator. The more ETH you have on the network as a validator, the more your chances of validating a transaction. The new Ethereum development Casper will have 3 phases. The phase 0, phase 1 phase 2, and phase 3. Phase 0 is an introduction of a new Blockchain called Beacon chain and this Beacon chain will also help in solving PoS problems by using PoS to finalize an increase in the serenity of the PoW chain.
Casper will replace Ethereum mining with validators per the rules of their stake and as usual, there will be a special type of voting to select validators according to how their PoS system works. Phase 2 will introduce a new mechanism called basic sharding to improve transaction speed. The Casper will combine several improvements to the Ethereum core protocol which will be the first layer. Also, Casper will provide vast opportunities for second layer developers with more advanced user and network experience.
Casper will make staking possible on the Ethereum network which will help drive ETH price up and the computational resources needed to be a validator are not costly. In fact, Casper will be the new ledger for Ethereum 2.0.
One needs to hold at least 34ETH to be chosen as a validator and this amount will have to be deposited on a special smart contract address per their PoS rules, Ethereum will need about 65,536 validators which the amount needed to start the new PoS mechanism is estimated raise about $2 million to be able to start the genesis of Ethereum 2.0. This means that in estimate about 65,536 nodes will be set up and this means more security for the Ethereum network.
Validators are bounded by rules and regulations and there are penalties that a validator suffers when they violate. It is said that if a validator node goes offline for 18 days, and the beacon chain is not finalizing then your balance will be reduced up to 60% of your total stake in the validator’s special address
The Casper project is still under development and we don’t have many details yet but it is estimated to be launched in January 2020. It is said that Ethereum will undergo no fork.
The new Casper is also resistant to the 51% attack since validators will be chosen according to a special type of rules that will make it difficult for validators to try manipulating the network with about 65,536 nodes
According to Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum 2.0 is finalized except for security audits and I believe with Ethereum having more developers than any cryptocurrency right now in the crypto space, the future of Ethereum is exciting and this new implementation will be a success.
We wish them the best of luck as we buy Ethereum and wait for it to moon.
I Am CryptoRas.
Featured Photo by Victor Aznabaev on Unsplash
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