Ethereum will switch from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) likely already later this year in a much anticipated upgrade to Ethereum 2. The switch to PoS aims to make Ethereum both more secure and more sustainable by securing the network through Ether instead of mining. A second Eth2 update will address scaling through sharding at a later time.

Danny Ryan, Researcher with Ethereum Foundation, has been a major driving force behind the Eth2 project. He joined us for a progress update and we chatted about how the protocol will work in its steady state, what has launched so far, what happens in The Merge, and how PoS will affect centralization tendencies.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Danny's background and how he got into crypto
• An overview of Eth2 - Phase 0, Beacon Chain
• The role of a validator and building blocks
• Penalties and rewards within the protocol including slashing
• What the epoch is and how it relates to finality
• The Proof-of-Stake merge
• Why Proof-of-Stake is favorable for security purposes
• What is the roadmap for sharding?
• Ethereum fees

Episode links:

• Ethereum Community
• Eth R&D Discord
• Ethereum on GitHub
• Eth Research
• EF on Twitter
• EF blog
• Danny on Twitter

Sponsors:

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This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Martin Köppelmann. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/393