Ethereum — Upgrades, Standards & Futures

Summary

Ethereum is advancing with significant upgrades like Casper and Sharding, introducing new token standards such as ERC-721 and ERC-1155, and expanding its presence in financial markets with the launch of ETH Futures.

Abstract

Ethereum, the platform that has significantly propelled the growth of digital tokens and smart contracts, is undergoing substantial upgrades. The Casper FFG upgrade aims to transition Ethereum from a Proof of Work (PoW) to a Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol, which is expected to be more efficient and less energy-intensive. Sharding is another upgrade designed to address Ethereum's scaling issues by enabling parallel transaction processing. Ethereum's innovation is also evident in the introduction of new token standards: ERC-721 for non-fungible tokens and ERC-1155, which aims to improve upon the limitations of previous standards. Additionally, the launch of ETH Futures on platforms like Crypto Facilities marks a significant step for Ethereum in the financial trading sector, following the footsteps of Bitcoin futures. These developments underscore Ethereum's commitment to continuous improvement and its quest to maintain its position as a leading cryptocurrency platform.

Opinions

The author believes that Ethereum's Casper and Sharding upgrades are highly anticipated and will significantly improve the network's efficiency and scalability.
There is an opinion that the introduction of ERC-1155 by Witek Radomski represents a notable advancement in token standards, potentially offering faster, cheaper, and lighter transactions for video game tokens.
The launch of ETH Futures is seen as a major milestone for Ethereum traders, enhancing its credibility and integration into mainstream financial systems.
The article suggests that despite increasing competition, Ethereum continues to evolve and improve, maintaining its supremacy in the cryptocurrency space.
Vitalik Buterin's and Fabian Vogelsteller's roles in proposing the original ERC-20 standard are highlighted, acknowledging their contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem.
The author implies that the continuous innovation and development within the Ethereum platform are key factors in its ability to withstand competition and remain a dominant force in the crypto market.

Ethereum — Upgrades, Standards & Futures

There is no doubt that Bitcoin is the pioneer of Cryptocurrencies which set the stage for Blockchain revolution, but Ethereum is the one that provided the platform for the exponential growth of the new digital tokens (ICOs), it also laid the foundation for finding practical solutions for amalgamating the Blockchain into the mainstream financial system with its smart contract functionality.

No wonder that it has been sitting strong as the second most valuable digital token/platform with its innovation, functionality, an efficient team & quest for continuous improvement. Just wanna quickly touch base with some of the recent developments in Ethereum.

Casper & Sharding upgrades: In the recently concluded Ethereum developers meeting on June 15th, 2018 it was decided to combine the upcoming Casper & Sharding upgrades. Perhaps the most talked-about & most anticipated has been the Casper FFG (Friendly Finality Gadget) upgrade to Ethereum network ever since it was first published in October 2017. ETH intends to move to a much more efficient & less power consuming PoS (Proof of Stake) protocol from the current drag of PoW (Proof of Work) algorithm. The following infographic would simplify it for you.

Sharding, on the other hand, is going to help Ethereum tackle the scaling issue which has been haunting it for a while now. Basically sharding would enable the parallel processing of transactions by splitting the main Ethereum chain into smaller chains or shards. If you want to hear it from Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin he explains it as:

“Imagine that Ethereum has been split into thousands of islands. Each island can do its own thing. Each of the islands has its own unique features and everyone belonging on that island, i.e. the accounts, can interact with each other and they can freely indulge in all its features. If they want to contact with other islands, they will have to use some sort of protocol.”

New Standards: ERC-20 is the standard Fungible token interface used on the Ethereum network as proposed originally by Vitalik Buterin and Fabian Vogelsteller in November 2015. ERC-721 was accepted as the second standard Non Fungible token (NFT) in March 2018 after being proposed by Dieter Shirley in September 2017. A comparison infographic below between the two standards explains the difference.

More recently Witek Radomski, co-founder and CTO of Enjin Coin, has developed & proposed ERC-1155 — a new standard for video game tokens on the Ethereum network. This new standard is deemed to have improved on the limitations presented in its predecessors ERC-20 & ERC-721. Witek claims the new standard would make faster, cheaper & lighter transactions. At the time of this writing ERC-1155 has been posted to Ethereum’s GitHub as a discussion thread waiting for users feedback before a “pull request”

Ethereum Futures: Another major milestone for Ethereum was the launch of ETH Futures on a regulated UK-based Crypto trading startup Crypto Facilities in May. This is a major headliner for Cryptocurrencies traders since the launch of Bitcoin futures by CME in December 2017. Having said that US launch of Ethereum futures may be one step closer since CME Group has announced a partnership with Crypto Facilities to list the price of Ethereum in real-time dollars.

This Cryptoverse Goliath ETH seems to be unfettered with an ever-increasing competition showing up on the horizon & continues to improve & evolve. Will it be able to hold on to its supremacy. Time will tell…

If you like what you read, here’s a link to some of my other article related to the topic:

Originally published at www.datadriveninvestor.com on July 4, 2018.