Sepolia & Holesky Dencun Announcement

Necessary replace: for the reason that preliminary publication of this submit, Lodestar has printed a brand new launch, v1.15.0, which Holesky customers should improve to previous to Dencun’s activation on February seventh. Moreover, Prysm and Nimbus have each printed extremely really useful releases for Holesky. Prysm customers are inspired to make use of v4.2.1, and Nimbus customers v24.2.0.

• Goerli blobs are right here: Dencun went stay on Goerli at 6:32 UTC on January 17, 2024. Now you can use blobs there!
• Sepolia and Holesky will improve over the following two weeks. Dencun will activate on Sepolia at epoch 132608 (January thirtieth, 22:51 UTC), and on Holesky at epoch 29696 (February seventh, 11:35 UTC).
• Shopper releases on this announcement are appropriate for each testnet upgrades.
• Assuming the Sepolia and Holesky upgrades go properly, Dencun shall be scheduled on the Ethereum mainnet subsequent.
• To obtain an e mail alert for community improve bulletins, together with the Dencun mainnet one, subscribe here.

The Dencun community improve has efficiently activated on the Goerli testnet on January 17, 2024. It’s now scheduled for the 2 remaining testnets, Sepolia and Holesky, on the following occasions:

The improve contains a number of modifications, most notably the introduction of ephemeral knowledge blobs with EIP-4844, also referred to as “protodanksharding”, which can assist cut back L2 transaction charges.

Dencun follows final yr’s Shapella upgrade. It is going to first be deployed to Ethereum testnets. As soon as these all are easily operating the improve, Dencun shall be scheduled for deployment on the Ethereum mainnet.

Improve Specification

The Dencun improve combines modifications to each Ethereum’s consensus and execution layers. The complete checklist of protocol modifications will be present in EIP-7569. For reference, they’re:

Deneb

Full python specs for modifications affecting Ethereum’s consensus layer will be discovered within the deneb folder of the ethereum/consensus-specs repository.

Cancun

The EIPs linked above include the complete specs for modifications affecting Ethereum’s execution layer.

Moreover, a python specification for these is being carried out within the ethereum/execution-specs repository.

Lastly, Deneb requires modifications to the Engine API, used for communication between the consensus and execution layer nodes. These are specified within the cancun.md file of the ethereum/execution-apis repository.

Shopper Releases

The next shopper releases help Dencun on each Sepolia and Holesky. Additional variations will activate help on mainnet. As soon as these are launched, one other announcement shall be made on this weblog.

When selecting which shopper to run, validators needs to be particularly aware of the dangers of operating a majority shopper on both the execution layer (EL) or consensus layer (CL). An explainer of those dangers and their penalties will be discovered here. An estimate of present EL and CL shopper distribution and guides for switching from one shopper to a different will be discovered here.

Consensus Layer Sepolia & Holesky Releases

Notes:

• Holesky Lodestar v1.15.0-rc.0 customers should improve to v1.15.0.
• Holesky Nimbus v24.1.2 customers are extremely inspired to improve to v24.2.0.
• Holesky Prysm v4.2.1-rc.1 customers are extremely inspired to improve to v4.2.1.
• When operating a validator, each the Consensus Layer Beacon Node and Validator Shopper have to be up to date.

Execution Layer Sepolia & Holesky Releases

Be aware: whereas Reth helps Dencun, the shopper continues to be pending a full audit and is not really useful for manufacturing use. See the Reth README for extra context.

FAQ

As an Ethereum consumer or Ether holder, is there something I have to do?

Briefly, no.

If you happen to use an trade, digital pockets or {hardware} pockets you do not want to do something until you might be knowledgeable to take extra steps by your trade or pockets supplier.

If you happen to run your personal Ethereum node, see the following query.

As a non-staking Sepolia or Holesky node operator, what do I have to do?

To be suitable with the improve on both testnet, replace your node’s execution and consensus layer purchasers to the variations listed within the desk above.

As a Sepolia or Holesky staker, what do I have to do?

To be suitable with the improve on both testnet, replace your node’s execution and consensus layer purchasers to the variations listed within the desk above. Make sure that each your beacon node and validator shopper are up to date.

As a non-Sepolia or Holesky node operator or staker, what do I have to do?

Nothing for now. Additional bulletins shall be made for Dencun’s activation on mainnet. You may signal as much as obtain an e mail alert for them here.

Stakers who need to run by means of the improve course of extra occasions earlier than mainnet are inspired to make use of ephemery.dev, which now helps Dencun.

What occurs if I’m a Sepolia or Holesky staker or node operator and I don’t take part within the improve?

If you’re utilizing an Ethereum shopper that isn’t up to date to the most recent model (listed above), your shopper will sync to the pre-fork blockchain as soon as the improve happens.

You can be caught on an incompatible chain following the previous guidelines and shall be unable to ship Ether or function on the post-Dencun Ethereum community.

As an software or tooling developer, what ought to I do?

Evaluation the EIPs included in Dencun to find out if and the way they have an effect on your mission — there are lots of new thrilling options being launched throughout each the execution and consensus layers! The one EIPs with backwards compatibility implications are EIP-6780, EIP-7044 and EIP-7514.

Why “Dencun”?

Upgrades to the consensus layer use star names, and people to the execution layer comply with Devcon metropolis names. “Dencun” is the mix of Deneb, a first-magnitude star within the Cygnus constellation, and Cancun, the placement for Devcon 3.

Unique cowl picture by Darren Lawrence, with modifications by Tomo Saito.