When will the ETH2.0 beacon chain be launched? When will Staking be enabled? When will reward distribution start?
The Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain is likely to go online within 6 weeks, what possible opportunities do ordinary token holders have?
On October 12, ConsenSys researcher Ben Edgington wrote in an article published on Coindesk:
it's time. Time to launch the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain.
Why pay attention to the progress of the beacon chain? Because the beacon chain as the headquarters of Ethereum 2.0 is officially launched, it means that the road to ETH 2.0 has taken a key step, and from the perspective of currency holders, after the deposit and mortgage function is enabled, the lock-up rate of Ethereum will set new highs.
The Ethereum community is currently preparing for the arrival of the beacon chain.
At present, there are multiple test networks in the Ethereum community that are undergoing iterative testing: multiple single-client test networks (Sappire, Topaz, and Onyx) of Ethereum 2.0 have been tested for a long time; and the multi-client test network Medalla is currently also More than 50,000 validators participated.
By the time the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain goes live, there will be multiple audited, community-tested clients that will be up and running (Teku, Lighthouse, Mimbus, and Prysm).
With these preparations in place, the question that Ethereum followers are most concerned about is: When will Phase 0, the beacon chain phase, marking the launch of Ethereum 2.0 go online?
In Ben's opinion, we don't have to wait too long this time. The key step for the launch of the beacon chain is to deploy the deposit contract, and the current Zinken testnet is progressing smoothly, and the community plans to realize the genesis of the beacon chain within six weeks.first level title
1. What is the beacon chain?
The Ethereum 2.0 network improves the scalability and processing capacity of the network by introducing fragmentation, and the beacon chain is the "command and control center" of the entire Ethereum 2.0 network. In the initial stage after the beacon chain goes online, with the introduction of sharding, the beacon chain can coordinate the operation of up to 64 shard chains.
The complexity of upgrading Ethereum 2.0 is no less than changing the tires of a high-speed off-road sports car. This is not counted, but it needs to be transformed so that it can fly. This process is not a one-day job, and needs to be realized through multiple stages. At present, three stages are relatively determined: stage 0, stage 1 and stage 2.
Ethereum 2.0 will introduce Casper, a PoS consensus protocol, and the key step is the realization of phase 0. Because in phase 0, the launch of the beacon chain will serve as the control center and command center of the Ethereum 2.0 network.
The subsequent phase 1 will introduce sharding, and the beacon chain will refer to the state of the shard through the crosslink (crossLink), but it will not process transactions at this time. Next, at the end of 2021 or even the beginning of 2022, with the introduction of virtual machines, smart contracts can be executed on shards. Only then can we see the Ethereum 2.0 network really being used.
Previously, the Blockchain Institute had published an article introducing the multiple stages of the launch of Ethereum 2.0. For details, click:first level title
2. When will Staking be enabled?
The Beacon Chain is online and the coin deposit function is enabled, which means that users can deposit their Ethereum into the Ethereum 2.0 network (that is, Staking is enabled).According to the setting of Ethereum 2.0, to become a network verifier needs to pledge 32 ETH, and run the node, while maintaining the stability of the network, you will also get rewards for your investment.
Why is the launch of the beacon chain so important?
Because Ethereum 2.0 adopts the PoS consensus mechanism, the beacon chain will record the pledged witnesses (Staker/Validator) and their mortgaged tokens, and randomly select the pledged validators. After the shards go online in the future, the beacon chain will also assign the block generation tasks of the shards to the validators through random allocation. The beacon chain will adopt consensus rules, sanction cheating verifiers, reward working verification nodes, and act as a link hub between different shards.
Although after many rounds of test network verification, although quite a few functions and features can be perfectly simulated on the test network, bugs can be found and problems can be found. But only in the real formal network of the beacon chain, is the participation and practice of real money, and the real economic characteristics of tokens under PoS can be obtained, with real mortgages, real punishment and reward mechanisms, and even more painful , and more relevant, which cannot be simulated on the test network.
Ethereum 2.0 is not a simple upgrade of Ethereum 1.0. Instead, Ethereum 2.0 is another blockchain network created. As development progresses, users and applications of Ethereum 1.0 will gradually migrate to Ethereum 2.0. For example, after the support for virtual machines is activated in Phase 2, the original Ethereum smart contracts can be deployed on Ethereum 2.0.
How is the beacon chain started?
After the beacon chain goes online, if you want to become a verifier of Ethereum 2.0, the verifier needs to deposit 32 ETH tokens into the official smart contract before becoming a verification node in the Ethereum 2.0 network and getting rewards . However, the process of launching the beacon chain is not that simple.
In order to achieve the creation of the beacon chain, in addition to the common block height requirements, an additional condition needs to be met: the number of validators who mortgage 32 ETH needs to exceed 16384 before the beacon chain can be officially launched .In the pre-creation stage of the beacon chain before this, only the nodes of the beacon chain will participate in the ETH 2.0 network. Once the requirements of the number of people and block height are met, and the creation stage is realized, it means that verifiers can participate in the consensus mechanism, maintain the operation of the network, and communicate with each other.
However, the beacon chain at this time is like the framework of a building, like the keel of the big ship Ethereum 2.0, and it has no real use other than depositing coins and running the network.
Most concerned: When will the staking rewards be issued?
After the genesis state of the beacon chain is realized, can validators on Ethereum 2.0 earn benefits? This is a concern of many users.
According to the above, in addition to meeting the block height requirements, at least 32 X 16384 = 524,288 ETHs are required to be deposited into relevant smart contracts as a collateral guarantee for validators.And it should be noted that since the state of the Ethereum 1.0 network needs to be synchronized to the beacon chain, there will be a delay in state synchronization. Therefore, students who are concerned about the progress of the launch of Ethereum 2.0 and the beacon chain need to know that after staking ETH to meet the requirements, After the block reaches the specified height, there is still a certain creation delay period. As mentioned in the picture above, it is expected that there will be a delay of about 48 hours.After this, it means that the beacon chain is officially opened, and the rewards for becoming a validator will also start.
It is estimated that on the beacon chain, the initial annualized rate of return for becoming a validator is about 20%. You must know that after the initial noise of the Ethereum 2.0 network, obtaining this income is equivalent to a risk-free income on Ethereum 2.0. Even at the peak of the DeFi project, this 20% rate of return is very attractive. .
Therefore, I think it should not take too long to meet the 543,000 ETH mortgage requirements during the launch of the beacon chain.
But don't get excited, there are still some issues we need to pay attention to.
Participate in the ETH 2.0 network, these risks you need to know
Like the launch process of any large project, although the ETH 2.0 test network and corresponding clients have undergone multiple tests, after all, the test environment is a test environment and cannot be compared with the official network. In addition to factors such as software loopholes and network failures, it is also necessary to consider that hackers can exploit loopholes, save them but not issue them, and attack in one fell swoop until more tokens are deposited into the formal environment.
At the beginning of the Beacon Chain's launch, it was a rush to enter. Although it may be a novelty, it is not necessarily a wise choice. If you want to participate, it is better to wait for the network to stabilize, and after the security team and the company evaluate it, it is not too late to enter. Although there are fewer verification nodes in the initial stage of launch, it is more likely to be rewarded for participation, but risks also come with it.
In addition, although Ethereum 2.0 sets a low threshold of 32 ETH pledge requirements, more people can participate and become validators. But running the software to become a validator is still a somewhat technical job.
Under the PoS mechanism of Ethereum 2.0, corresponding punishment mechanisms are also set: fines and lazy punishments. If the validator’s node continues to be offline, part of the security deposit will be confiscated by the system; if the validator commits malicious acts and is identified by the system as having malicious behavior, the assets will be fined and confiscated. And when the penalty is lower than the requirement of 32 ETH, it will be eliminated, and it will no longer be eligible for block verification, and naturally it will not be rewarded.
special reminder
It is worth noting that even if the beacon chain goes online as scheduled, the mortgaged assets will still not be able to move for a long time.
As a validator, after transferring to the system contract on the Ethereum mainnet and mortgaging 32 ETH to obtain the qualification of a validator, the rewards you get will continue to accumulate. When can you claim them?
According to ConsenSys researcher Ben Edgington, after the beacon chain goes online, validators can stop verification and freeze their pledged tokens and rewards at any time. Coins will always be locked on the beacon chain and cannot be taken away.
In the 1.5 stage, the validators who staked tokens can receive rewards and unfreeze the staked ETH. Before that, the tokens will be locked for a long time and there is no way to redeem them.
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3. The impact of the upgrade of Ethereum 2.0
After talking about the details of the launch of the beacon chain and the risks of participation, it is time to talk about the possible opportunities that Ethereum 2.0 brings to ordinary people. Of course, these are the author's personal inferences and do not constitute investment advice, but are only used as information reference.
1. Become a validator and pledge tokens to participate in the network
This is the most obvious way to participate. It is also mentioned above that the benefits that verifiers can obtain are estimated. However, for non-technical enthusiasts, although starting a verification node currently requires certain software and node operation and maintenance knowledge, So there is a certain threshold.
In order to solve this problem, there are also a number of projects targeting the Staking track, which were also introduced by the Blockchain Research Institute before."How to lay out ETH 2.0 Staking? Let’s talk about Blox, Ankr, and Rocket Pool as examples”, we briefly review.
There will be a large number of nodes in Ethereum 2.0. If calculated according to the industry average pledge rate of 50%, it is roughly estimated that 50 million ETH will enter the pledge state. Providing third-party pledges will become a big business. After all, even if the annualized return is 15% and the commission rate is 20%, the annual return is as much as 570 million U.S. dollars. It is hard not to be tempted by this piece of cake .
On the track of Ethereum 2.0 Staking, ordinary people can participate in it with the help of some third-party Staking projects, and choose a good staking service provider after their own independent evaluation. Although commissions are given, they do not need to operate and maintain nodes themselves , or saved some trouble. The three projects Blox, Ankr, and Rocket Pool are worthy of attention on the Ethereum 2.0 track.
Specifically, Blox provides a non-custodial mortgage service, which, like DEX, allows users to have their own autonomy.Blox provides a set of programs for configuring, running and managing nodes for users to use. The public beta version has been released on October 12. Those who are interested can download and experience it.Blox’s token model is still relatively simple at present, and it will use a certain percentage of commissions from users to repurchase its own platform tokens.
Ankr wanted to do cloud computing at first, but later turned to node-related businesses. Users can run their own ETH 2.0 nodes through Ankr. After the subsequent launch of Stkr, third-party node service providers will be introduced for users to choose, and at the same time support small ETH Staking. And Ankr tokens will also become a means of payment on the platform.According to official news, the testnet will be announced in the near future.
Rocket Pool provides a simple UI, allowing users to directly enter the Ethereum they want to mortgage, and obtain the certificate rETH after the pledge, which allows users to obtain income and liquidity, and also supports small amounts of ETH to participate in Staking.
Recently, I saw Lido, a project similar to the Rocket Pool model, which will be launched on the test network in the near future. This track will definitely become more and more crowded.
For ordinary people, it takes too much energy to run a node by themselves, and they may face the risk of punishment. Choosing a reliable third-party service will still be the choice of many people.
2. The gameplay of Staking + DeFi
In fact, it can be inferred that Ankr, Rocket Pool, Lido and other projects provide liquidity for Staking ETH, so these rETHs will definitely be accepted by DeFi, and rETHs transactions, lending and other scenarios may also capture relatively large values.
3. The benefits brought by the increase in the pledge amount of Ethereum
In addition to the above participation methods, there is one more thing to note: With the launch of the Ethereum beacon chain, the pledge rate of Ethereum will increase, and the pledge of Ethereum 2.0 + DeFi pledge will continue to change the market of Ethereum tokens The relationship between supply and demand means that ETH will face more demand-side markets. After all, the daily output of Ethereum is limited.
Four. Summary
Four. Summary
If all goes well, Ethereum 2.0 will begin the process of officially launching at the end of November. Although at the beginning of stage 0, we have no way to do more than pledge tokens to run nodes, but with the various ideas of the community, the combination of ETH 2.0 mortgage and DeFi can be optimistically predicted. The amount of token collateral will exceed the previous high.
Participating in emerging networks has its risks, but the launch of the Ethereum Beacon Chain will mean that a long journey has finally come to an end. As long as you start to walk, the road is long but you can reach it. After all, even the ace pigeon Filecoin is officially launched, isn't it?
Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), and does not constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.
References
https://www.odaily.com/post/5154319
https://www.coindesk.com/time-to-launch-ethereum-2-beacon-chain
https://www.coindesk.com/ethereum-2-lockup-defi-innovation
https://www.chainclub.cn/1986.html
https://www.coindesk.com/time-to-launch-ethereum-2-beacon-chain
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Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), and does not constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.
