Ethereum is one of the biggest cryptocurrency projects on the market today. That does not mean the project will not evolve further, as various issues have become apparent over the years. Below are some of the big things to look forward to where Ethereum is concerned, Do keep in mind there is no official timeline for any of these developments as of yet.
#3 Beacon Chain
One of the options being explored by Ethereum developers goes by the name of Beacon Chain. It would be a solution which seems to transition Ethereum into its proof-of-stake era and introduce the sharding concept. As such, it plays a pivotal role in the world of cryptocurrency, depending on how the developers decide to implement it exactly.
This Beacon Chain would “link” between the main blockchain and the Shard chains. Its main purpose is letting the main chain know which blocks from the Shards need to be added over time. As the main blockchain is validated through proof-of-stake, it will also reside on the Beacon Chain and maintain a close tie to it at all times. It will be a valuable addition to Ethereum as a whole.
#2 Casper FFG
There has been a lot of talk about Casper where Ethereum is concerned. This has always been part of the project’s bigger plan, and Casper is still part of the agenda right now. However, there was also a plan on the table to introduce Casper FFG, which would effectively act as a validator for Casper and sharding. To participate in the FFG aspect, holders need a stake of 1,500 ETH to validate such network activity.
In recent months, there has been some concern regarding the use of Casper FFG. It remains unclear if this feature will be introduced in the future, although there is no official indication it will not be part of the roadmap moving forward. It is possible the Casper and sharding validators will be unified in the Beacon Chain, though further clarification on that front is expected in the coming weeks.
#1 eWASM
The eWASm aspect will seemingly play a major role in the future of Ethereum as a cryptocurrency and blockchain project. It was first proposed as part of EIP 48, primarily because it will introduce notable performance advantages over using the traditional Ethereum Virtual Machine. In a way, eWASM can be seen as the “second gen” of the EVM, although it will use a subset of Webassembly.
The main reason web assembly is being looked at is because it is a new standard built for the web. With improvements in speed and size, it can be of great value to Ethereum and dApp developers alike. At the same time, it will require a major “port” of the existing infrastructure, which makes for some interesting challenges.
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