Ethereum’s much-anticipated Dencun hard fork marked a significant milestone with its formal release on the Sepolia test network at 22:51 UTC on January 30. The final phase awaits on the Holesky testnet, scheduled for epoch 29696 on February 7th at 11:35 UTC. The imminent success of Holesky will pave the way for Dencun to transition to the Ethereum mainnet.
At the core of this upgrade is the realization of the anticipated “proto-danksharding” feature designed to enhance scalability and reduce gas fees. This is achieved through the introduction of a novel, compressed data storage mechanism termed “blobs.”
Sepolia upgraded to Deneb So far, it looks good!
The launch proceeded seamlessly, earning commendations from developers. Tim Beiko, a Core developer, expressed satisfaction, stating, “Everything looks smooth so far.” Ethereum engineer Terence playfully apologized for the lack of drama during the upgrade, emphasizing the sentiment that uneventful testnet forks are the most successful ones. Prominent DevOps engineer Parithosh Jayanthi, associated with the Ethereum Foundation, echoed this sentiment in a post on X.
Earlier this month, Ethereum core developers attempted the upgrade on the Goerli testnet, but it encountered challenges and failed to conclude within the allotted time frame. Despite being released on Goerli on January 17 at 6:32 UTC, Dencun appeared to have split, prompting the team to wait and properly assess the situation. Terence had anticipated potential difficulties, emphasizing the need for careful analysis before deeming the Goerli hard fork a failure or anticipating delays in the Dencun update.
Ethereum Dencun Update Sparks 9% Price Rally
In anticipation of the Dencun update, the price of the second-largest crypto surged by over 9% in less than a week. As of the latest data, ETH is trading at $2,331, reflecting a marginal rise over the previous day.
The Dencun mainnet upgrade is projected to conclude by the end of the first quarter, marking the most substantial enhancement since the Shapella update in March 2023. Initially slated for the last quarter of 2023, the Dencun hard fork was rescheduled to 2024 due to its intricate nature and the necessity for thorough testing.