Ethereum 3.0? Ethereum Enters A New Era With The Newly Proposed 'Beam Chain'

After much anticipation, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake finally reveal his “Beam Chain”proposal to enhance Ethereum’s consensus layer, after much anticipation and endless speculations from the crypto community.

Yesterday, the researcher posted on his social media alluding to the unveiling of one of his most ambitious plans to create a beacon chain roadmap that would shape the future of what Ethereum would look like.

Consensys CEO, Joe Lubin speculated that Drake's idea might involve something called sharding execution, which essentially entails developing a zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) at layer 1, allowing for multiple identical execution shards.

Others have speculated that the ETH 3.0 announcement could be a second merge into a new consensus targeting 1 second block times. In his X post, Ambient Finance founder Doug Colkitt speculated that with this new update, the gas limit could be eliminated entirely.

So with all these rumours and anticipation, let's see how much of it is true.

The release of a Ethereum 3.0?

During the release of his new proposal, Drake positioned Beam Chain within Ethereum’s as a new Era for the consensus layer.

Following Ethereum’s shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake with The Merge in 2022, Beam Chain could become the next milestone, utilizing SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) for enhanced scalability and privacy. SNARKs allow data verification without revealing the underlying data, a leap that enhances both security and efficiency.

One of the most prominent features of Beam Chain is how slot times are cut from 12 seconds to four, ensuring block finality within three slots. Additionally, it could simplify Ethereum’s validator structure by removing epochs, which currently group validator responsibilities.

Another major change would lower the validator minimum stake from 32 ETH to just 1 ETH, potentially making validator participation more accessible and inclusive. These adjustments, Drake explained, aim to resolve limitations within the current Beacon Chain design, although any change will require broad community support.

Layer 2 might become obsolete?

With the introduction of the Beam chain that reduces Ethereum's block finality times, it is natural to wonder what layer-2 networks will be used for in the future.

Although Layer 2 networks have helped scale Ethereum, they’ve also prompted debates on the potential trade-offs for the base layer’s intrinsic value.

Does this mean that with Beam Chain, Layer 2 will become something of the past and will become obsolete in the future as Ethereum will finally live on its own scalability.

But Drake has rebuked these rumors, stating that the Beam Chain concerns only the consensus chain and it's therefore wrong to assure that it would affect the structure of layer-2.

Currently, Ethereum is still conducting many of its studies which are still heavily dependent on layer-2, thus it would still be too premature to call it obsolete just yet.

Ethereum’s Evolution Beyond The Merge

If realized, Beam Chain would mark Ethereum’s largest upgrade since The Merge unified Ethereum’s mainnet with the Beacon Chain in 2022, moving the network to proof-of-stake and reducing its energy use by over 99%.

The Ethereum community has been cautious about terms like “Ethereum 2.0” to prevent misconceptions, and similarly, Drake has voiced reservations about calling the new initiative “Ethereum 3.0” to avoid misinterpretation on the blockchain's continuity.

Adding to the announcement’s intrigue, the Ethereum Foundation recently sold 100 ETH for $334,316 in DAI stablecoins, just before Drake’s keynote, as reported by Spot On Chain.

This marked the first ETH sale since the Foundation disclosed a treasury balance of $970 million, including $788.7 million in crypto holdings (mostly ETH) and $181.5 million in non-crypto assets.

Beam Chain could be a defining moment in Ethereum’s ongoing journey, as it continues to evolve to meet scalability and inclusivity goals while adapting to the dynamic needs of its community