most commercially successful blockchain ecosystem is about to get much cheaper after the latest software upgrade of the ethereum network.
The upgrade is being hailed as the most significant change in ethereum ecosystem’s end-user experience ever — and it will be much more noticeable to consumers than the well-known September 2022 Merge, which dramatically slashed ethereum’s energy consumption. Ethereum handles more transactions than the bitcoin network.“This one is going to overshadow them all,” said Roberto Bayardo, an engineer working on base at Coinbase.
As blobs gain traction, there will be more space left on ethereum for other transactions, so the network should become clogged less often. On the other hand, it will no longer store a complete record of everything forever.“You don’t get something for nothing, but I think it’s an excellent tradeoff for ethereum to make,” said Ed Felten, a retired professor at Princeton University who co-founded Offchain Labs, which develops arbitrum.
“In general, it allows much more complex and sophisticated behaviour from applications than what’s possible today,” Felten said.The upgrade could also spur the launch of more layer-2 chains, which can now be operated much more cheaply. Whereas a layer-2 project previously needed to garner millions of dollars in venture capital backing to launch and operate, it may now be able to accomplish the same feat with a skeletal crew.