Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has just announced an Ethereum upgrade that aims to make blockchain verification mainstream. The proposed upgrade, dubbed ‘The Verge’, could change the way people interact with the Ethereum network by enabling blockchain validation on devices as small as smartwatches.
The development, announced on October 23, addresses one of the biggest obstacles to widespread blockchain adoption: the massive data storage required to run a full Ethereum node. Today, validators require hundreds of gigabytes of storage, plus another 30 GB per year, making it unrealistic for most users to participate in network verification.
βThe Verge is about changing this and making fully authenticating the chain so computationally affordable that every mobile wallet, browser wallet and even smartwatch does this by default,β says Buterin, describing his push for a more inclusive blockchain world.
The Verge upgrade describes a completely different structure in which the blockchain processes and stores data. Essentially, the proposal introduces ‘stateless client authentication’, a revolutionary approach that avoids the need to keep full copies of the blockchain on each device.
Instead, the system would introduce advanced cryptographic technologies such as SNARKs β Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge β which are necessary to enable efficient authentication with minimal data storage.
The current proposal includes a broader range of innovations, including STARKed binary hash trees that deliver improved security and scalability benefits compared to traditional systems.
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