The Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain genesis is set to launch on schedule following the deposit of over 524,288 ETH from 16,384 validators into the Eth 2.0 deposit contract.
Ethereum CEO Vitalik Buterin confirmed the milestone had been accomplished late Monday night via Twitter, much to Ethereum enthusiasts’ delight. The ETH.2.0 deposit contract now has enough funds for triggering the first phase of the much-anticipated consensus change.
Buterin is spearheading the ETH project’s most ambitious upgrade yet that will solve scalably issues on the blockchain and radically shift the resource usage, economic model, and governance of the ecosystem.
In early November, the Ethereum foundation published the ETH 2.0 specifications, laying out how the genesis phase would be triggered. The dev team set a soft launch date for Dec. 1, provided the deposit contract reached 524,288 ETH staked by November 24.
Data from blockchain analytics firm Dune analytics shows that more than 200,000 ETH was sent to the contract over a 24-hour period, allowing the project ETH to hit its targeted deposit with hours to spare.
ETH Transferred to the Deposit Contract | Source Dune Analytics
The price of ETH broke $600 yesterday, possibly fueled by anticipation from the crypto world that the deposit contract threshold was hours from being reached.
Ushering in the Genesis Phase of Ethereum 2.0
The first stage of ETH 2.0, often referred to as “phase 0”, now has a definite launch date after the transition faced multiple delays over the past year.
The proof-of-stake (PoS) upgrade will be implemented seven days after the required deposit contract’s threshold was met, bringing the earliest possible date to Dec 1.
This is an astonishing milestone for ETH, as there were early concerns over low staking participation when the deposit contract was released on Nov 5. At the time, the ETH project’s cofounder led by example by sending 3,200 ETH to the deposit contract.
Transfers have rapidly since yesterday, and the last 25% of the ETH required to trigger the contract was deposited in a mere four hours.
This achievement has now set the stage for the rollout of a parallel POS blockchain dubbed “the beacon chain.” The new chain will initially run parallel to the existing ETH blockchain without impacting existing users and Dapps.
Therefore, the beacon chain activation doesn’t mark the entire network’s shift just yet; it is the first of four phases that will herald the ETH 2.0 migration. Eventually, these phases’ completion will culminate in the complete switch of all users and Dapps to the new ETH 2.0 blockchain.
Onboarding Beacon Chain Validators
The new chain’s primary stakeholders are validators, who can earn rewards for processing transactions and creating new blocks on the network.
After the shift to the PoS blockchain kicks off, any individual with a minimum of 32 ETH will be able to stake their coins and run validator nodes.
