Ethereum's Goerli Testnet Successfully Forks to Dencun, Featuring Proto-Danksharding EIP-4844

According to Blockworks, Ethereum's Goerli testnet has successfully forked to Dencun, featuring the Proto-Danksharding EIP-4844 innovation. This development paves the way for two more major testnet forks, which will secure a move to the Ethereum mainnet, currently scheduled for the end of March. The consensus from Thursday's All Core Devs meeting was to prepare a new software version by mid-next week, which could be used for both the Sepolia and Holesky testnets, slated for January 30 and February 7, respectively. Dencun's concept of 'blobs' is a key component of the upgrade. Blobs refer to a large piece of data that is not directly included in an Ethereum block but is instead referenced by the block. By including extra data for transactions, Ethereum will better serve rollups that use mainnet for data availability. Rollups are expected to see around a 90% cost savings, which they will pass on to users in the form of cheaper transactions. Even though the data in blobs is stored off-chain, the integrity and availability of this data are still maintained. Blobs are designed to be cryptographically secure, ensuring that the data they reference is immutable and verifiable. A minor consensus issue in the popular Prysm client caused the forked chain to encounter difficulty finalizing blocks. Terence Tsao, protocol developer at Offchain Labs, which develops the Prysm client, estimated the resulting delay at about four hours while the team patched the problem. Goerli itself is scheduled to be retired following this month. The Ethereum Foundation and other developers have been encouraging users to transition to the newer Sepolia testnet, which will serve as the primary testnet for dapp developers in preparation for Goerli to be shut down. Another testnet, Holesky, launched in September 2023 and is intended more for infrastructure and protocol development.