Vitalik Buterin Announces Further Development of Ethereum ‘Purge’

The Purge" is a project to slim down Ethereum and address accumulated technical issues. Buterin's announcement hints at the existence of additional Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that share the same goal of simplification

Vitalik Buterin Announces Further Development of Ethereum ‘Purge’

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently outlined the upcoming phases of the protocol's simplification efforts, codenamed "The Purge." This initiative aims to streamline the Ethereum protocol by reducing historical data storage requirements. This will lessen the burden on node operators' hard drives and significantly lower the technical debt associated with the protocol. In simpler terms, "The Purge" is a project to slim down Ethereum and address accumulated technical issues. Buterin's announcement hints at the existence of additional Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that share the same goal of simplification.

In the recent report, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted the implementation of Ethereum Improvement Protocol (EIP)-6780 during the Dencun hard fork, which significantly simplified the Ethereum protocol by reducing the functions of the "SELFDESTRUCT" code and enhancing security measures. One of the critical changes post-EIP-6780 is the introduction of a maximum number of storage slots that can be edited in a single block, roughly determined by the gas limit divided by 5000. Buterin expressed optimism that future EIPs would eliminate the SELFDESTRUCT function, further enhancing the network's security and efficiency.

"The Purge," as Buterin referred to it, also involves comprehensive cleanup efforts within the Geth Ethereum client aimed at removing redundant code following the transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Recent Ethereum Improvement Proposals have also contributed to enhancing how empty accounts are managed, improving overall code efficiency.

Also, as one of the primary objectives of The Purge is to optimize data storage on the Ethereum blockchain, EIP-4444, introduced during the Dencun upgrade, introduces the concept of "blobs" for specific data storage, reducing long-term storage requirements and facilitating easier node participation. The proposal also suggests automatically removing older blocks after a designated time, further reducing storage needs.

Buterin emphasized that The Purge would enhance Ethereum's node decentralization by distributing historical data more effectively across the network. He noted that while not all nodes would store complete historical data, solutions like block explorers and decentralized peer-to-peer networks are being explored to ensure accessibility.

Furthermore, The Purge includes plans to evaluate and optimize precompile Ethereum contracts and introduce a new data structure called SimpleSerialize (SSZ) to replace the current block structure, simplifying data usage and development processes.

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