With the arrival of the Beacon Chain in 2020, Ethereum today supports two types of clients: those who focus on execution layer (often called eth1) and those that power proof of stake consensus layer (aka eth2). As those who use validators know well (since they run both types of clients), each serves a specific purpose and powers a different part of an Ethereum.
Recognizing the importance that both sets of clients represent to the long-term health and diversity of the Ethereum network, our work to support all clients is fundamental to our work in the ecosystem.
Layer-specific customer support updates
the execution layer
In 2021, the Ethereum Foundation plans to allocate at least $4 million to execution layer client teams.
These grants, the first of which have been distributed, support the following client teams: Bésu, Geth (Go Ethereum), Void Spirit, Open EthereumAnd Turbo Geth.
It was clear from Ethereum’s early days that greater customer diversity helped make Ethereum stronger within it. That’s why today we reaffirm our support for their work with this first step towards sustainability.
the consensus layer
In 2021, the FE allocates at least $4.5 million was spent on customer teams, as detailed in previous articles (ESP Allocation 2020 Updates, T1, T2, T3, T4). Additionally, support may be announced through periodic searches and ecosystem support program updates throughout the year for audits, formal verification, testing, bug bounties, tools and other community support.
The consensus layer currently has four clients, Lighthouse, Teku, Prism And Nimbus which are live and have been stable since the launch of the beacon chain in December. At the time of writing, these clients have enabled the beacon chain to be secured by over 3.5mm of Ether, which is provided by over 110,000 active validators. This feat and the accomplishments of these teams to date cannot be overstated. 👏
In addition, a fifth customer, North Starhas provided quality javascript tools (which are already used by various explorers and other beacon chain tracking tools) and other API standardizations, and aims to put beacon chain light clients into production this year!
Our support in 2021 will mainly be aimed at these five clients, with other opportunities possible as development progresses.
Moving forward together
As Danny Ryan explained in his recent article Finalized #23“as a beacon chain staker, you need an Ethereum PoW endpoint to successfully complete all of your different tasks as a validator.” This means that today and after the merger, both types of customers are needed to power the network. And because the familiar execution layer technology remains regardless of consensus changes, no action is required from dapps, developers, or users to continue using Ethereum as they always have. In short, both types of clients remain necessary, and the long-term strength, health, and decentralization of Ethereum succeeds as they succeed.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen new interest and innovation in Ethereum, and there’s surely more on the horizon. As network usage increases and Ethereum’s potential becomes even greater, sustainable support for open source software on both layers is essential, and we look forward to providing further updates on our work in this area. 🚀
