Ethereum 2.0: What You Need to Know - Ep.201

Dec 1, 2020

Guest

Ryan Watkins

Guest

Wilson Withiam

Ryan Watkins and Wilson Withiam, senior research analysts at Messari, dive deep into Ethereum 2.0's monumental upgrade. They discuss the shift from proof of work to proof of stake and the implications for validators. The duo highlights the innovative staking solutions that enhance liquidity and the relationship between staking and DeFi. They also explore Ethereum's unique monetary policy and how the upgrade redefines ETH as a store of value, capital asset, and commodity. Their insights illuminate the challenges and rewards facing Ethereum 2.0 as it aims to scale effectively.

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INSIGHT

Ethereum 2.0 Overview

Ethereum 2.0 is Ethereum’s most ambitious upgrade in 7 years.
It aims to improve scalability, security, and transform ETH as an asset.

INSIGHT

Sharding and Proof-of-Stake

Ethereum 2.0 aims to solve scalability and security issues by implementing sharding and proof-of-stake.
Sharding splits the blockchain for parallel processing, and proof-of-stake enhances security and accessibility.

INSIGHT

Ethereum 2.0 Phases

Ethereum 2.0 rollout has four phases: Phase 0 (beacon chain launch), Phase 1 (sharding), Phase 1.5 (merge), and Phase 2 (shard execution).
Scalability gains might be realized before Phase 2 through rollups and data availability layers.

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Ryan Watkins and Wilson Withiam, senior research analysts at Messari, explain the nuts and bolts of Ethereum 2.0, including how it will transform ETH as an asset and why they believe it will be Ethereum’s most ambitious upgrade yet. Topics include:

the different phases of Ethereum 2.0 and the functions they serve
the problems Ethereum hopes to solve with this upgrade
the technical requirements needed to ensure the launch can happen
the new proof of stake consensus and why Ethereum is leaving proof of work behind
the requirements necessary to maintain a validator node on the Ethereum 2.0 network
why users won’t be able to use their ETH once it is staked on Ethereum 2.0
the incentives and services that will allow users staking on Ethereum 2.0 to continue using their ETH on Ethereum 1.0
whether the appeal of DeFi is a threat to Ethereum 2.0 staking
how Ethereum 2.0 incentivizes client diversity
the monetary policy of “minimum necessary issuance” that supports Ethereum 2.0
how Ethereum 2.0 will allow ETH to achieve the unprecedented combination of a store of value, a capital asset, and a commodity
what will be done in the short term to help ease the scaling problem while ETH 2.0 is being built
whether scalability can be efficiently addressed in time to prevent migrations to other blockchains
and the most significant risks Ethereum 2.0 is facing

Thank you to our sponsor!

Crypto.com: https://www.crypto.com

Episode links:

Ryan Watkins: https://twitter.com/RyanWatkins_

Wilson Withiam: https://twitter.com/wilsonwithiam

Messari Crypto: https://messari.io/

Messari report on Ethereum 2:0: https://messari.io/road-to-eth2

Amount of ETH in the Ethereum 2.0 Deposit Contract: https://etherscan.io/address/0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa#analytics

https://www.stakingrewards.com/earn/ethereum-2-0

ETH issuance based on amount staked: https://docs.ethhub.io/ethereum-basics/monetary-policy/#proof-of-stake-impact

Dan Elitzer article on DETH: https://medium.com/ideo-colab/the-deth-of-ethereum-98553866e81b

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