Ethereum is counting down to its shift away from energy-intensive proof-of-work validation to proof-of-stake.
A test network, called Ropsten Ethereum, that’s been used for development and test of proof-of-stake is slated to merge into the main Ethereum network on June 8 as part of the crypto’s transformation.
Ethereum, which is the second-largest crypto by value, had targeted completion of the overhaul by August to avoid what its creator and founder Vitalik Buterin calls the ‘difficulty bomb’ – which is effectively a hard deadline for proof-of-work imposed on the network deliberately, once triggered it will see the difficulty of validation puzzles used in Ethereum mining increase exponentially until they become practically impossible to solve.
The coin has plummeted 60% since its all-time high reached in November as investors seek safe havens rather than riskier assets in times of economic downturn, triggered by the war in Ukraine, global shortages and supply chain problems.
Since the beginning of 2022, the second largest digital currency has sunk 47%, while it fell 28% in May alone.
Ethereum’s switch to proof-of-stake should give the crypto a boost, according to analysts, as the soon-to-be faster, cheaper and more secure network can surely only be bullish.
Whilst Ethereum heads for proof-of-stake, Buterin and his team continue to develop other novel innovations including the creation of what’s being referred to as ‘soul bound tokens’ (SBTs).
For those able to keep up with all the crypto acronyms SBTs will effectively be non-transferrable non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – evidently someone wisely opted against calling them NTNFTs, and instead borrowed ‘soul-bound’ from fantasy gaming to describe the special NFTs which will effectively remain attached to their owners for life.
SBTs are said to be vital to Ethereum, according to UBS.
The Swiss bank has published a 37-page paper which suggested important documents, credentials, and assets could be digitised and decentralised using SBTs with some of the suggested examples including university degrees and concert tickets.
“Alongside progress with ‘sharding’ and zero-knowledge proofs, such things could really set this base chain apart from an institutional adoption and ESG audit perspective,” UBS said.
‘Sharding’ involves splitting a blockchain into many pieces, or shards, to store them in a variety of places.
Meanwhile, 'zero-knowledge proof' is expected to be a game-changing decentralised method of authentication that using blockchain technology could replace passwords whilst increasing security and safety online.
On 31 May, Ethereum was priced at US$1,966 with a market value of US$238bn.