Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Unveils Details of The Verge Upgrade, Targeting Enhanced Security and Accessibility

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed details about the network's upcoming upgrade, dubbed The Verge, which seeks to upgrade both the security and accessibility of Ethereum.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared insights into the upcoming network upgrade, dubbed "The Verge," which aims to enhance both the security and accessibility of Ethereum.

A central focus of the upgrade is to enable nodes to be run on smaller devices, such as phones and smartwatches, by introducing stateless verification, which reduces the hardware requirements for users and solo stakers.

Currently, one of Ethereum's challenges is the massive amount of data required to operate a node, which involves storing "hundreds of gigabytes of state data." The Verge will address this through stateless verification, allowing nodes to verify blockchain blocks without needing to store large volumes of data.

This shift will lower the technical barriers to running a node, making it easier for mobile wallets, browser wallets, and even smartwatches to participate in verifying the Ethereum blockchain by default.

Buterin highlighted that The Verge will initially implement Verkle trees, a cryptographic structure that reduces the size of proofs, enabling more efficient stateless validation. However, he acknowledged concerns regarding the vulnerability of Verkle trees to quantum computing. In response, developers are exploring alternatives, such as STARK-based binary hash trees, which offer better long-term security and scalability in the face of quantum computing threats.

The Verge will also introduce changes to Ethereum's gas cost system, as proposed in Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-4762, to ensure that resource-heavy cryptographic operations are priced more efficiently. This multidimensional gas system will separate costs for call data, computation, and state access to better manage Ethereum's resources, helping to ensure scalability and security.

By reducing the hardware requirements and improving resource management, Buterin hopes The Verge will make solo staking more accessible, allowing a broader range of participants to run nodes and contribute to the security of the Ethereum network.

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