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What is The Surge (Ethereum)?

The Surge is the second phase of Ethereums developmental roadmap, where the blockchain is poised to scale using rollups. This phase follows the Merge, which marked Ethereums transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS).

Within The Surge, various network upgrades are planned, with Proto-Danksharding being a standout feature. Its anticipated that this development phase will significantly enhance network throughput and curtail Ethereums gas fees.

According to Ethereums co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, the main goal is to achieve a network throughput of 100,000 transactions per second and beyond on rollups.

Blockchain technology, still in its nascent stages, is constantly evolving. The thought leaders of the industry are always seeking superior methods to scale public blockchain networks without compromising security and decentralization.

This context leads us to the trajectory of Ethereums development. Originally, the blueprint envisaged the blockchains scaling through sharding. The strategy aimed to bolster Ethereums capacity by segmenting the mainnet into 64 distinct shard chains.

Each shard was designed with a specific use case in mind and would have its own unique set of miner/validators. These multiple chains were projected to distribute the network load, leading to quicker transactions and reduced fees. But as rollup technology advanced, it captured the attention of the Ethereum community, emerging as a potentially more efficient method for scaling the blockchain.

Rollups help layer one (L1) blockchains, such as Ethereum, scale by processing transactions off-chain, thereby reducing the computational load on the L1.

Developers can build applications on top of rollup chains without adding undue strain to the Ethereum mainnet. In such as setup, Ethereum only serves as the settlement layer. Rollups submit their transactions to the Ethereum L1, which can be used to verify transactions, resolve disputes, and create Merkle proofs essential for affirming ownership of assets and facilitating cryptocurrency withdrawals from the rollup

While the initial roadmap emphasized execution sharding, the current strategy pivots to data sharding. Now, The Surge is heralded as the next stage to help Ethereum achieve large-scale expansion through rollups.

According to Buterins infographics, EIP-4844 or Proto-Danksharding is the first component of The Surge. Here is all you need to know about EIP-4844:

Here is the thesis behind why it is OK to delete the data in the blobs.

According to Ethereum developers, a rollup is composed of two parts: data and execution check.

The advocates of EIP-4844 argue that theres no necessity for transaction data to be perpetually accessible. Instead, it should only remain available for a sufficient duration, enabling anyone to check and validate the transactions recorded on Ethereum.

EIP-4844 suggests purging transaction data after a fixed period ranging between one and three months, thereby alleviating the need for Ethereum nodes to retain extensive data. Leading Ethereum developers believe this approach will shift the onus of comprehensive data storage off-chain to third parties.

By utilizing temporary data blobs, Ethereum aims to facilitate a greater throughput of transactions. Additionally, this approach is expected to notably reduce gas fees for end users

Proto-Danksharding serves as the initial phase in Ethereums rollup scaling strategy, paving the way for the complete rollup scaling solution called Danksharding.

To put it simply, Danksharding can be thought of as Proto-Danksharding on steroids. The ongoing strategy aims to increase the number of temporary data blobs from a single one in Proto-Danksharding to 64 in Danksharding.

According to Ethereum.org,

Danksharding will bring massive amounts of space on Ethereum for rollups to dump their compressed transaction data. This means Ethereum will be able to support hundreds of individual rollups with ease and make millions of transactions per second a reality.

Yet, according to the company, Danksharding is still several years away from realization. For the Ethereum network to accommodate Danksharding, it must undergo multiple upgrades, including the introduction of proposer-builder separation and data availability sampling.

Just like the Merge, The Surge is anticipated to span over multiple years. Although the Merge neither diminished Ethereums gas fees nor enhanced its network throughput, The Surge promises tangible benefits for end users.

As of now, the timeline for EIP-4844 remains uncertain. Some media outlets speculate its implementation could materialize by the close of 2023.

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What is the Surge (Ethereum)? Definition, Feratures, and Timeline - Techopedia