The Ethereum community, developers and key researchers and others have always recognized scalability as perhaps the most important key challenge which must be resolved so that blockchain applications reach mass adoption. The scalability of blockchain is mainly difficult because a typical blockchain design requires that each node of the network deals with each transaction, which limits the process of processing transactions of the whole system to the capacity of a single node.
There are two main paths to improve the scalability of blockchain. The first (“fragment») Implies the creation of better designed basic blockchain protocols, which always maintain most of the desired decentralization and security properties of a blockchain that we see in the simple conceptions available today, but only require A small percentage of nodes to see and process each transaction, making it possible to treat much more transactions in parallel at the same time. The second consists in creating “layer 2” protocols which send most transactions outside chain and interact only with the underlying blockchain in order to enter and leave the layer 2 system and in the case of attacks on the system.
We consider the two strategies as complementary with each other and we believe by supporting a strategy with several parts towards Ethereum scalability which engages both strategies and treats them as complementary with each other.
Technical reading equipment on Ethereum scalability technologies
Sharding:
Examples of existing layer 2 systems:
Ethereum blockchain reaching 1 million transactions per day, and Ethereum and other blockchain projects frequently reaching their complete transaction capacity, the need to set up progress becomes more and more clear and urgent. To this end, in addition to the current and future work which is taking place on internal scalability, we start two experimental subsidy patterns which, we hope, will also allow more independent teams to collaborate with research and research efforts Development of the scalability of the research team of the Ethereum team of the Ethereum team. As a construction of independent layers of layer 2 which can link and improve the scalability of Ethereum.
The independent teams of developers, companies and university and university groups are all welcome; We recognize that different types of candidates may require different formats and processes and we are ready to be flexible to meet the needs of individual teams.
Resinion customer grant program
In recent months, Sharding’s development has resumed quickly. A specification for an initial prototype is near finalizingWith a roadmap that allows it to be slowly introduced into Ethereum, first as a “cowardly” category anchored in the basic chain Ethereum through a “validator manager contract”, later introducing a more integration Strict with the basic chain Ethereum over time. A reference implementation is under construction in Python above PawnAnd a python test is not too far.
And in this next step, we want you to be involved. We want Ethereum Sharding Testnet, and later Sharding Mainnet, be a multi-client ecosystem from the start, the Ethereum Foundation noted any unique privileged production implementation. The research team funded by Ethereum Foundation will continue to create an implementation in Python and possibly other languages, but this is intended for a reference and proof of concept above all. Although we aim to continue to focus on research and specifications, we do not ultimately want to “win” the competition for which the customer gets the most real users once the network is online.
Instead, the Ethereum Foundation will make subsidies available to independent groups of the community who wish to help create an implementation and participate in Sharding and the main tests. These payments are not intended to be sources of substantial benefits to beneficiary organizations; They are rather intended to cover some of the costs involved, thinking that anyone who participates in the program will have access to a unique opportunity to participate in the development of Ethereum 2.0, with close collaboration with basic researchers Ethereum, and to be part The development of one of the first customers who will be available when the Maint Sharding is posted.
This will take the form of a specialized program, which will exist alongside the subsidy program more general than the Foundation will soon publish. Grant subsidy 1,000,000 will be available, and perhaps more for very successful projects; The size of the grant will take into account the quality of the team, the scope of the proposed implementation and the progress of the project over time. Participants will interact in close collaboration with the main research team and will play a key role in the training of final specifications that develop during the implementation of the specification and execution of test networks.
Subsidy program for the scalability solution of Layer-2
There have been a large number of independent proposals recently on how blockchains such as Ethereum can be put on the scale via second layer protocols. We recognize and appreciate that developers and researchers are delighted to seek and implement technologies in this area, and that many teams want the freedom to design and build their own conception which integrates their own ideas. We want to offer such teams the opportunity to exercise their creativity and build their evolutionary blockchain proposals, while remaining within the Ethereum family.
To this end, we are announcing a subsidy program for projects that build scalability and latency reducing “layer 2” platforms that live above Ethereum, benefiting from the safety of Ethereum blockchain as a layer of Base and interoperability with the largest Ethereum community and platform.
Like the Sharding customer program, it will take the form of a specialized subsidy program and subsidy amounts 1,000,000 will be available according to the scope, the scale and the quality. The subsidy can be available even if the project has an independent commercial model or funding from other potential sources of the Ethereum community, although we favor funding projects that otherwise lack the ability to be maintained, and It must absolutely be the case that the work financed is open source from start to finish and provides a common good to the Ethereum ecosystem.
The financing objectives include efforts to develop high -quality implementations of existing layer 2 strategies (for example, plasma channels), as well as research and development of new.
Closing notes
These two programs are at a very early stage, and the subsidies will initially be decided at the discretion of the basic leadership Ethereum. Details, including the terms, conditions and schedules in which payments will be made, can change as a result of our initial experience with the participants in the program, and we expect the program to solidify and develop during The year.
Also note that, although the payments of these collaboration programs are much higher than those we have made from our previous grant programs, these payments come with a much higher expectation of concentration and quality. We target qualified teams with direct experience in Ethereum or Blockchain space, namely an experience in the wider fields of the design of the mechanism, distributed systems or cryptography, as well as software engineering. The programs are also strongly intended for Sharding customers and the layer 2 scaling solutions; It is not a program of subsidies for general use. This is still under development and details will be published as soon as they are ready.
How to apply
The first step is to send an email to Apply@ethereumresearch.orgWith the following information:
- Official name of the project, applicants and basic developers
- Further information on the team, including previous activity, if necessary in Ethereum or Blockchain space or distributed systems, mechanism design or cryptography
- Proposal and impact on scalability
- Chronology estimated for the stages and the completion of development, request for an amount of grant and total estimated overall budget
