Gnosis Chain Mainnet will hard fork on 11 March 2024 at 18:30:20 UTC, Slot: 14237696 Timestamp: 1710181820
Validators! Please follow the Gnosis Chain Validator Newsletter to stay updated on all client releases ahead of Dencun.
When Gnosis developed a Beacon Chain and, subsequently, merged its execution and consensus layers, Gnosis set itself on a path to shadow Ethereum’s upgrades. Both Ethereum and Gnosis transitioned to Proof of Stake (PoS) with the Bellatrix upgrade in 2022, happening only three months apart from each other. The Merge signaled an important step in Gnosis’ journey together with Ethereum. The Shanghai and Capella “Shapella” upgrades took place in 2023, allowing validators to unstake or withdraw their ETH and GNO, respectively.
From the early days of xDai at ETHDenver, Gnosis has always played a role in Ethereum’s development. With the adoption of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism, Gnosis continues to contribute to extending Ethereum’s growth.
Dencun Upgrade
The Cancun-Deneb (Dencun) upgrade is slated for early 2024 for Ethereum and Gnosis. Dencun is a combination of two upgrades. Deneb, the name for Consensus Layer upgrade, and Cancun, the name of the Execution Layer upgrade. The upgrade implements Proto-Danksharding with EIP-4844, introducing transactions that can carry “blobs” of data for scaling L2 chains and reduces transaction fees. Blob-carrying transactions scale data-availability of Ethereum in a simple, forwards-compatible manner. In short, Dencun introduces a new transaction format that allows Ethereum to scale in ways previously not possible. To learn more about EIP-4844: Shard Blob Transactions, read the original post on ethereum.org
The consensus layer upgrade following Capella has been given the name Deneb and will take place simultaneously with the execution layer’s Cancun upgrade.
The main work included in Deneb will be the work needed for the consensus layer to support EIP-4844 data availability.
The following changes are also planned for inclusion.
Which EIPs will be implemented on the Gnosis Chain?
- EIP - 1153: Transient storage opcodes
- EIP - 4788: Beacon block root in the EVM
- EIP - 4844: Shard Blob Transactions
- EIP - 7516: BLOBBASEFEE opcode
- EIP - 7514: Add Max Epoch Churn Limit
- EIP-7516: BLOBBASEFEE opcode
- EIP - 5656: MCOPY - Memory copying instruction
- EIP - 6780: SELFDESTRUCT only in same transaction
- EIP - 7044: Lock voluntary exit domain on Capella
- EIP - 7045: Increase Max Attestation Inclusion Slot
The most important feature of the upgrade enables blobs (EIP - 4844 Proto-Danksharding), which will enable L2 chains to scale and provide a cheaper data layer
Differences with Ethereum Mainnet
EIP-4844
Gnosis Chain has slots significantly faster than Ethereum. Bigger blocks could have a higher cost to the network than Ethereum so we may price blobs differently. Ethereum mainnet has chosen a target of 3 blobs from real live experiments on mainnet with big blocks. This parameter may not be adequate for the Gnosis Chain.
Gnosis Chain has significantly cheaper fees than Mainnet, so blob spam is a concern. Ethereum’s MIN_BLOB_GASPRICE makes blob space free (1e-18 USD / blob) if usage is under the target for a sustained period of time. Blob spam is a concern that applies to Ethereum, as well, but consensus is that choosing a specific value that may apply to only some market conditions and not others. Gas is denominated in a stablecoin on Gnosis, the network’s native token, therefore these concerns are mitigated. Gnosis has also chosen a minimum gas price of 1 GWei that will reduce the cost per byte by a factor of 16.
EIP-7514
Gnosis Chain has both a lower CHURN_LIMIT_QUOTIENT and faster epoch times. A MAX_PER_EPOCH_ACTIVATION_CHURN_LIMIT value of 2 provides a good trade-off to:
- Limit maximum state growth in the next year to 1M validators.
- Increase the minimum time for a 2/3 malicious take-over to 150 days at current validator set sizes.
- Allow validator set growth to prevent long queues unless there’s exceptional demand.
See https://hackmd.io/@5qNKk0aeQlygax4hX3rVXw/SJfbSY-ep for more details.
What’s Next?
It is critically important that you keep your node up to date by upgrading your hardware with the latest client releases. We will be sharing client releases as they become available. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us through the channels below.
Gnosis Validator Meetup #13
Join us on February 15th, 2024 at 4PM UTC on the Gnosis Chain Discord. We’ll talk about the Dencun upgrade, the latest core developments on the Gnosis Chain and more.
Thank you node runners!