Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a series of articles discussing the future of Ethereum, including upgrades called “Merge,” “Surge,” and “Scourge.” In his latest article, Vitalik elaborates on the vision and goals of the “Verge” stage.
The goals of the Verge stage include achieving stateless clients and Merkle Trees, which are mathematical proofs that solve the high storage requirements when running a full node on the blockchain. In an article published on Wednesday, Vitalik stated:
“SNARKs can allow one party to prove to another that they possess certain information without revealing the information itself. These cryptographic techniques can also enable complex computations to be quickly verified on the chain.”
Looking ahead, Vitalik believes that the main goal of Ethereum in the Verge stage is to allow for complete blockchain validation, including the consensus layer and execution layer, on low-performance devices such as smartwatches. He said, “Download some data, verify a SNARK, and done.”
The developer community still needs to discuss the best way to achieve stateless validation and whether it still involves Merkle Trees or STARKs (similar to SNARKs but addressing some limitations of the proof system). Vitalik stated that in reality, it will take several years to have a proof of stake consensus for Ethereum’s validity. In the long term, “STARK-friendliness needs to be a primary consideration in Ethereum’s long-term redesign for proof of stake consensus.”
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