30s Summary

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, is initiating the fifth segment of “The Purge” blog series that seeks to reduce unnecessary data and simplify Ethereum functionalities. The aim is not to affect Ethereum’s gas fees, but to enhance network performance and lower operating expenses. The strategy involves lowering storage requirements for new nodes and introducing “partial state expiry” to control the continuous growth of stored data.
This follows the October release of The Verge, which aimed to decrease hardware requirements for blockchain verification, making node running on Ethereum network more user-friendly and secure.

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The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, is launching the fifth part of his blog series known as “The Purge”. The aim is to reduce unnecessary data and simplify how Ethereum works.

“The Purge” is all about getting rid of excess data storage and outdated features to make Ethereum more efficient while preserving the permanence of the blockchain.

Although “The Purge” won’t directly affect Ethereum’s gas fees, it could improve the network’s performance and reduce operating costs.

One of the main targets of The Purge is to make it easier for new nodes to join the Ethereum network by reducing storage requirements.

Right now, an Ethereum node that is fully synced up requires over 1.17 terabytes (TB) of storage, mainly because of historical data. Buterin’s planning to cut down on these storage requirements by getting rid of the need for every node to permanently store all history.

Buterin’s blog post also touches on the current state of the network. Currently, all new state data created is stored indefinitely, causing the state to expand continuously.

In simpler terms, once new data is added to the network, it stays there forever, making the system grow constantly. Buterin wants to counter this by introducing “partial state expiry”.

The idea is that less frequently accessed state data would be expired and then revived later using cryptographic proofs, if needed.

Buterin’s latest blog post comes after the introduction of The Verge on Oct. 23. The aim was to make running a node on the Ethereum network safer and more accessible.

The Verge upgrade tries to reduce the hardware requirements for blockchain block verification without needing to store lots of data through “stateless verification”. This would make verifying the chain so much easier that even mobile wallets, browser wallets, and smart watches could run a node on the network.

Source: Cointelegraph