Ethereum 2.0 launch: What to Expect?

The Ethereum price came back to long-term resistance above $600 just at the Beacon Chain launch day. Is it a sign of the next bull run? What can we expect from the upgraded roadmap and new blockchain?

Ethereum 2.0 is launching today, December 1st at noon UTC. Ether holders contributed more than enough ETH to open a new chain - currently, there are around 867,000, while the required amount to start the new chain was 524,288.

What does Ethereum 2.0 offer?

The buzz around Ethereum 2.0 is quite justified, but many still do not know that the new blockchain will not have many features. In fact, the beacon chain is developed to provide staking rewards to validators. We actually don't need to be prepared for the new blockchain, as the transactions, smart contracts, and dApps will proceed as usual on the original Ether 1.0 chain.

“You do not need to do anything with any ETH you’re already holding,” said Ethereum Foundation in the announcement.

Phase 0 in the new blockchain gives users proof-of-stake (PoS), in which Ether holders can lock up their coins to earn a part of the block rewards.

Phase 1 is the next step in which shard chains will be introduced allowing to process of more transactions per second than current proof-of-work (PoW). Most chances it will happen next year, but Ethereum 1.0 and 2.0 will still run independently right until Phase 1.5. In 2022 Phase 1.5 is going to unite ETH1 and ETH2 into the blockchain which will become one.

Do you have Ether in an exchange?

A couple of leading exchanges already supports Ethereum 2.0, as Coinbase tweeted yesterday:

“On December 1, the Ethereum Beacon Chain will launch, beginning a multi-year upgrade to Ethereum 2.0 (ETH2). Coinbase intends to fully support ETH2 through staking and trading.”

“Coinbase customers will be able to convert ETH in their Coinbase accounts to ETH2 and earn staking rewards,” added the exchange.

It is not a surprise that the Ethereum community is overexcited as five years of research and development finally presenting the largest smart contract and dAPP network. As David Hoffman recently said;

“We were born too late to explore the globe, too early to explore the galaxy, but we were born at the perfect moment to explore the infinite whitespace of Ethereum 2.0.”

Ethereum network users in the meantime can contribute by not only staking Ether to the launching chain, but additionally, they can run a client and earn bug bounties when testing the upgrades before new blockchain launches.

By the way, anyone who staked Ether for the chain launch needs to do nothing but wait, as it takes a while.