Ethereum Developers Discuss Pectra Upgrade and EIP 7732 in Latest Core Call

On August 15, 2024, Ethereum protocol developers convened virtually for All Core Developers Execution (ACDE) Call #194, chaired by Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Alex Stokes. The bi-weekly ACDE meetings focus on coordinating changes to the execution layer (EL) of Ethereum.

Pectra Upgrade and Devnets

The call began with updates on the testing progress for the Pectra upgrade. The readiness of EOF code changes for inclusion in a Pectra devnet and updated analysis on the gas costs for EIP 2537 operations were key discussion points. EF Developer Operations Engineer Parithosh Jayanthi noted issues with Teku/Erigon nodes and the Prysm client on Pectra Devnet 2. Developers aim to launch Pectra Devnet 3 with updated specifications for EIP 7702 in two weeks, followed by the addition of EOF in Pectra Devnet 4.

Geth developer Marius van der Wijden presented updated analysis on the gas costs for EIP 2537, which creates a new precompile for BLS12-381 curve operations. This enables smart contract developers to perform cost-effective operations such as signature aggregation over the BLS12-381 curve. Van der Wijden encouraged other developers to run their own benchmarks on EIP 2537 gas usage to verify results.

EIP 7732

Prysm developer “Potuz” shared updates on EIP 7732, a formal proposal to enshrine proposer builder separation on Ethereum. Since the Merge, validators have relied on relays to receive blocks containing MEV rewards. EIP 7732 aims to eliminate the need for relays, allowing validators to earn MEV more trustlessly. Potuz emphasized that the current design requires no changes to the execution layer (EL) or Engine API and is compatible with inclusion lists, which enable validators to force transaction inclusion in a block.

Reducing Pre-Merge Tech Debt

Developers discussed proposals to remove outdated parts of the Ethereum codebase post-Merge. Erigon developer Giulio Rebuffo proposed removing the “totalDifficulty” field from the Execution API to reduce technical debt. Geth developer Marius van der Wijden proposed removing pre-Merge fields and messages from the Ethereum Wire Protocol to improve node performance and reduce bandwidth during sync. Both proposals received positive feedback and will be reviewed in more detail asynchronously.

PeerDAS

Nimbus developer “Dustin” proposed hastening the rebase of PeerDAS on top of Pectra EIPs instead of continuing development on Deneb. He suggested rebasing PeerDAS on stable Pectra EIPs and excluding unstable ones like EIP 7702 and EOF. There was general support for this direction.

Stokes reminded participants of a recurring Pectra testing call starting next Monday at 2 PM (UTC) to coordinate further on devnet specifications and timing.

EIP 4444

There were no major updates on EIP 4444, which deals with history expiry. Representatives from Nethermind and Nimbus teams are building out their integrations with the Portal Network, an alternative protocol for accessing expired history data.

For more detailed information, please refer to the original article on galaxy.com.

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