The upcoming Duncan upgrade on Ethereum, expected in mid-March, will introduce what is known as “proto-danksharding.”
This upgrade is attracting the attention of Ethereum enthusiasts for its ability to enhance layer 2 solutions such as zkSync, Optimism, Arbitrum and others, making Duncan a crucial development for their future.
Proto-danksharing (or EIP-4844) aims to merge “data points” off-chain, allowing more data to be included in Ethereum transactions without impacting block processing times. This is described as key to Layer 2 scalability on the network, providing them with the ability to take advantage of increased data capacity.
Thus, a significant reduction in transaction costs is expected on Ethereum's second layer. “The overwhelming difference users will notice with the EIP-4844 upgrade is that transaction fees will be significantly reduced,” Anthony Rose, head of engineering at Matter Labs — a primary shareholder of zkSync — told The Block.
zkSync, which operates as a layer 2 network on top of the Ethereum mainnet, batches hundreds to thousands of transactions into batches, which are then verified on the mainnet. However, this verification incurs a fee, which is passed on to users.
At the time of writing, the average transaction fee on zkSync is around $0.20. The component that EIP-4844 will affect – in terms of data costs – is approximately $0.08 to $0.10 per transaction. The team expects that this data-related component could be reduced nearly tenfold after Duncan, which could bring average fees (per transaction) to less than $0.10.
Take advantage of Boojum
Matter Labs implemented code improvements to zkSync last year, in line with EIP-4844, to target performance and improve the ability to aggregate and verify transactions.
“We are working on a number of improvements to the protocol, which, combined with the changes to EIP-4844, will have a significant impact on zkSync performance,” Rose said.
Among them is the launch of Boojum, a STARK-based proof system designed to enable the network to compress and publish more data on the mainnet within its batches.
Boojum has been instrumental in the amount of data collected by zkSync to Ethereum per Layer 2 payment, and now the cost efficiency that Duncan will bring will make it even more cost effective.
“With the Boojum upgrade, we included some changes to the way we publish data to L1 (partly to prepare for EIP-4844), but this also allowed us to deliver better data compression and, at the same time, increase L2 batch sizes.” Rose explained.
He added: “Our payments will be larger, and transactions will become cheaper.”
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