Ethereum Weekly Digest, February 16, 2025
Eth News and Updates
Eth R&D protocol call (All Core Devs)
Execution layer focused protocol call (ACDE #205):
Pectra
Devnet-6: minor issues uncovered during devnet6, thoroughly tested with no major blockers found.
TestNet: Holesky target Feb 24, Sepolia target March 5.
Fusaka
Scope: EOF and PeerDAS
Finalize Fusaka scope within one or two ACDE/ACDC calls after Pectra mainnet launch, aiming for mainnet activation in approximately six to eight months.
Layer1
Consensus-specs v1.5.0-beta.2 (Oricorio): for the upcoming Electra upgrade, adding Basic validator custody to Fulu release
FOCIL (#4)
Progress across Nethermind, Lodestar, Prysm, Lighthouse, Teku, and Reth, with interop testing underway and Beacon API refinements ongoing.
Proposes a zero-knowledge approach (ZK FOCIL) for privately electing includers who can publish inclusion lists without revealing identities, enhancing censorship resistance, though not planned for near-term inclusion in the main EIP.
ePBS (#16)
Devnet: Experiencing frequent reorgs post-fork due to missing payloads, focusing on gossip and RPC improvements to stabilize finalization.
Solution: Proactive payload requests and cross-fork logic refinements to mitigate reorgs and stabilize finalization.
Next step: Stabilizing the Devnet with Teku and Prysm, implementing full sync via payload-by-range, and updating the Python spec for ePBS.
Stateless (Implementers Call #30)
Verkle Testnet: Still under active development, focusing on EIP-4762 gas adjustments.
Binary Tree: Proposed as a simpler, quantum-safe alternative to Verkle, awaiting final hash function and proof system decisions.
Need a consistent field or mechanism for designating the transaction sender and authority information in simulated calls for Type 4 multi-signature transactions across all clients.
Proposal to introduce an “authority” field, allowing the user to skip signature verification by directly providing an address, while still permitting traditional signature validation.
Further discussion and coordination are planned to finalize the JSON-RPC extension and test cases before the next meeting.
PeerDAS (#17)
Devnet: Ongoing stability and incremental testing on DevNet 4, with DevNet 5 planned once validator custody and distributed block building are completed.
Validator Custody: Still in an early stage of design and implementation, requiring significant coordination among client teams, with no final version yet.
Beam Chain (#1)
BEAM trademark conflict: renaming required due to an existing 'BEAM' trademark and two tokens already using that ticker.
14 teams indicating support or early development: Zeam (Zig), REAM (Rust), Quadrivium (C++), Nethermind (C#), Lantern (C), LambdaClass (Elixir or Rust), Colibri (C, C++ or Rust), Afream (C# or Rust) and Prysm, Nimbus, Lodestar, Lighthouse, Teku, Grandine.
Layer2
L2 Interop Working Group Discussion #3
Background: Enhancing Ethereum cross-chain experiences via two working groups: one on chain-specific addresses, another on a minimal universal messaging format.
Chain-Specific Addresses Working Group: Refining address normalization methods for L2 and sidechain contexts. Next steps include documenting domain separation for consistent cross-chain references.
Message Passing Working Group: Building a unified developer interface for cross-chain messaging, while refining existing protocols. Finalizing timeline, identifying core contributors, and planning an interface specification by the end of Q1.
Open Intents Framework: Created to unify multi-chain intent flows and accelerate cross-chain UX, serving as an open, neutral framework for developers. Adopts EIP-7683 as one of the universal cross-chain order standard, enabling consistent contract interfaces, reference solvers, and modular settlement layers.
Rollcall (#10)
EIP-7875: Proposes a standardized "Token Bridge" address on L2 networks for token contracts, ensuring a unified approach to mint/burn operations. Aims to reduce cross-chain complexity and is currently under discussion among rollup teams to finalize a stable reference implementation.
Execution common core: Aims to unify a set of EVM upgrades across major L2s for consistent developer experience. Currently considered premature to finalize a single standardized bundle, but collaboration continues among L2 teams.
EIPs/ERCs
EIPs (Ethereum improvement proposals):
ERCs (application layer):
Client Release
Consensus Layer
Nimbus v25.2.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
teku v25.2.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Lodestar v1.27.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Prysm v5.3.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Grandine v1.0.0: Stable 1.0.0 released
Execution Layer
Besu v25.2.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Nethermind v1.31.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Reth v1.2.0: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Erigon v2.61.1: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
Geth v1.15.1: Enables the Pectra fork for the Holesky and Sepolia testnets
For developers
Foundry v1.0.0: Faster builds, deeper test coverage, enhanced debugging, new cheatcodes, and early EVM feature support
alloy v.0.11.1: Increase default gas limit from 30M to 36M
Ecosystem
Pectra Testnet Announcement: features to augment Ethereum accounts, improve the validator experience and support L2 scaling
Unichain Mainnet goes live: ~100 crypto products and protocols building on Unichain
Local Ethereum #1: Newsletter exploring the geo-story of Ethereum
EF Research Reddit AMA (Feb 25) : submit questions
Research & Paper:
The 7-day challenge period for optimistic rollups aims to prevent fund theft during a 51% censorship attack by allowing time for a social response. It ensures the community can detect censorship within 24 hours and implement a hard fork within 5 days. Some projects suggest that shorter challenge periods could still provide sufficient security.
Improving Censorship Resistance discusses Ethereum's efforts to improve censorship resistance and decentralize block construction through various mechanisms like PBS, MEV-Boost, Inclusion Lists, and FOCIL.
The Road Towards an Encrypted Mempool On Ethereum outlines the vision and roadmap for implementing an encrypted mempool on Ethereum. It highlights three key steps: integrating encrypted transactions via RPC, incorporating proposer commitments into PBS, and ultimately achieving in-protocol encryption for full decentralization.
Why Is Everyone in Ethereum Talking About TEEs explores the growing importance of TEEs in Ethereum's infrastructure, particularly in MEV extraction, Rollup-Boost, and bridge proof systems.
Stats
Fees (via ultrasound.money):
Gas: 0.5 to 14.1 gwei, 1.1 gwei average; zero net issuance at 19.8 gwei
16.8k ETH net issuance this week
ETHUSD: $2,562 – $2,776, currently $2,701, all time high $4,878
ETHBTC: currently 0.028 (Flippening at ~0.164)
L2 Total Value Locked: 13.48 M ETH, -0.04% in 7 days
ETH ETF: -10.50K ETH net inflow (February 10 – February 14)