Vitalik Buterin seeks to speed up the transition to Ethereum 2.0 with new proposal

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin posted a new proposal that aims to accelerate the process of merging the original Ethereum blockchain (dubbed ETH 1.x) into its Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based successor, Ethereum 2.0. If accepted, the new proposal would replace a complicated, multistep transition process Vitalik submitted back in Oct. by assigning a new validator set, ones that run full nodes on both networks, to verify ETH 1.x transactions and enter them directly into the new chain. Based on this design, the ETH 1.x chain will continue to live on as a shard within the ETH 2.0 network. The catch is Vitalik’s proposal requires stateless clients, an early-stage research project for creating a protocol that doesn’t store data on clients but can still prove the validity of a given state change, to keep this designated validator set in check.

Why it matters:

• Could this proposal speed up the highly anticipated launch of Ethereum 2.0? Multiple Ethereum developers believe this is a real possibility. But a few recent blog posts from the Ethereum Foundation warn stateless clients are “still very early stage research and shouldn’t be regarded as an accepted part of the Ethereum roadmap or in any way ‘proven’ as a concept.” Additional hurdles include how to incentivize some participants to continue running a full node and how stateless clients sign off on the blocks proposed by validators. Vitalik’s latest proposal could simplify the transition process, but the amount of research required to get stateless Ethereum clients in production may not accelerate the ETH 2.0 schedule as anticipated.
• Another question is why Ethereum developers should spend the time and effort necessary to preserve the legacy chain within the new network? There is a strong belief that existing Ethereum projects could fork away from Ethereum 2.0 to avoid any complications or costs associated with transitioning to a new network. But housing Ethereum 1.x within Ethereum 2.0 can help port the existing Ethereum community, assets, and liquidity into the new ecosystem with (potentially) minimal disruption.