The Ethereum upgrades

The Ethereum we know and love, just more scalable, more secure, and more sustainable...

What are Ethereum upgrades?

The Ethereum roadmap involves interconnected protocol upgrades that will make the network more scalable, more secure, and more sustainable. These upgrades are being built by multiple teams from across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Learn about previous Ethereum upgrades

The vision

To bring Ethereum into the mainstream and serve all of humanity, we have to make Ethereum more scalable, secure, and sustainable.

More scalable

Ethereum needs to support 1000s of transactions per second, to make applications faster and cheaper to use.

More secure

Ethereum needs to be more secure. As the adoption of Ethereum grows, the protocol needs to become more secure against all forms of attack.

More sustainable

Ethereum needs to be better for the environment. The technology today requires too much computing power and energy.

Dive into the vision

How are we going to make Ethereum more scalable, secure, and sustainable? All while keeping Ethereum's core ethos of decentralization.

The Ethereum upgrades

Ethereum consists of a set of upgrades that improve the scalability, security, and sustainability of the network. Although each is being worked on in parallel, they have certain dependencies that determine when they will be deployed.

The Beacon Chain

The Beacon Chain brought staking to Ethereum, laid the groundwork for future upgrades, and will eventually coordinate the new system.

The Beacon Chain is live

The Merge

Mainnet Ethereum will need to 'merge' with the Beacon Chain at some point. This will enable staking for the entire network and signal the end of energy-intensive mining.

Estimate: 2022

Shard chains

Shard chains will expand Ethereum's capacity to process transactions and store data. The shards themselves will gain more features over time, rolled out in multiple phases.

Estimate: 2023

What happened to 'Eth2'?

The term 'Eth2' is being phased out in preparation for The Merge. More on The Merge.

After merging 'Eth1' and 'Eth2' into a single chain, there will no longer be two distinct Ethereum networks; there will only be Ethereum.

To limit confusion, the community has updated these terms:

'Eth1' is now the 'execution layer', which handles transactions and execution.
'Eth2' is now the 'consensus layer', which handles proof-of-stake consensus.

These terminology updates only change naming conventions; this does not alter Ethereum's goals or roadmap.

Learn more about the 'Eth2' renaming

Why can't we just use Eth2?

Mental models

One major problem with the Eth2 branding is that it creates a broken mental model for new users of Ethereum. They intuitively think that Eth1 comes first and Eth2 comes after. Or that Eth1 ceases to exist once Eth2 exists. Neither of these is true. By removing Eth2 terminology, we save all future users from navigating this confusing mental model.

Inclusivity

As the roadmap for Ethereum has evolved, Ethereum 2.0 has become an inaccurate representation of Ethereumâ€™s roadmap. Being careful and accurate in our word choice allows content on Ethereum to be understood by the broadest audience possible.

Scam Prevention

Unfortunately, malicious actors have attempted to use the Eth2 misnomer to scam users by telling them to swap their ETH for â€˜ETH2â€™ tokens or that they must somehow migrate their ETH before the Eth2 upgrade. We hope this updated terminology will bring clarity to eliminate this scam vector and help make the ecosystem safer.

Staking Clarity

Some staking operators have also represented ETH staked on the Beacon Chain with the â€˜ETH2â€™ ticker. This creates potential confusion, given that users of these services are not actually receiving an â€˜ETH2â€™ token. No â€˜ETH2â€™ token exists; it simply represents their share in that specific providersâ€™ stake.

Want to help with the Ethereum upgrades?

There are plenty of opportunities to weigh in on the Ethereum upgrades, help with testing, and even earn rewards.

Get involved

This is not the official roadmap. This is how we view what's happening based on the information out there. But this is technology, things can change in an instant. So please don't read this as a commitment.

Staking is here

Key to the Ethereum upgrades is the introduction of staking. If you want to use your ETH to help secure the Ethereum network, make sure you follow these steps.

1. Set up with the launchpad

To stake on Ethereum you'll need to use the launchpad - this will walk you through the process.

Visit staking launchpad

2. Confirm staking address

Before you stake your ETH, be sure to check you've got the right address. You must have gone through the launchpad before doing this.

Confirm deposit contract address

Learn about staking

The Beacon Chain will bring staking to Ethereum. This means if you have ETH, you can do a public good by securing the network and earn more ETH in the process.

Frequently asked questions

Ethereum is being upgraded progressively; the upgrades are distinct with different ship dates.

It's not accurate to think of these upgrades as a separate blockchain.

You don't have to do anything right now to prepare for the upgrades.

The Ethereum Mainnet you transact on today has previously been referred to as 'Eth1.' This term is being phased out in favor of the 'execution layer'.

You'll need to use the staking launchpad or join a staking pool.

No. There is no Eth2 token and your ETH will not change after the merge.

Your dapp won't be affected by any imminent upgrades. However future upgrades may require some changes.

Many different teams from all over the community are working on the various Ethereum upgrades.

The Ethereum we use today needs to offer a better experience to end users and network participants.

You don't have to be technical to contribute. The community is looking for contributions from all kinds of skill sets.

Some things have changed here.

The term 'Eth2' itself is being phased out, as it does not represent a single upgrade or new network. It is more accurately a set of multiple upgrades that all do their part to make Ethereum more scalable, secure, and sustainable. The network you know and love will simply be referred to as Ethereum.

We're reluctant to talk too much in terms of a technical roadmap because this is software: things can change. We think it's easier to understand what's happening when you read about the outcomes. View the upgrades

But if you've followed the discussions, here's how the upgrades fit into technical roadmaps, and a bit on how they're changing.

Phase 0 described the work to get the Beacon Chain live.

Phase 1 originally focused on implementing the shard chains, but prioritization has shifted to 'The Merge' which is the next planned upgrade.

Phase 1.5 was originally planned to follow shard implementations, when Mainnet would be added as the last shard to the Beacon Chain. To expedite the transition away from proof-of-work mining, Mainnet will instead represent the first shard to connect with the Beacon Chain. This is now known as 'The Merge' and will be a significant step towards a greener Ethereum. More on proof of stake

Though the plans around Phase 2 have been a point of intense research and discussion, with The Merge planned before shard chains, this will allow for continued reassessment as to the needs of Ethereum development moving forward. Given a rollup-centric roadmap, the immediate necessity of shard chains is debatable. More on a rollup-centric roadmap