Ethereum Foundation Researcher Proposes “Beam Chain” Upgrade, The Biggest Update Since The Merge

Updated: 13 November 2024

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Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has proposed a major redesign of Ethereum’s consensus layer called “Beam Chain,” which will be the network’s biggest update since The Merge.

This upgrade will bring a “redesign of the consensus layer that incorporates all of the latest and greatest ideas from the Ethereum roadmap,” Drake said during a Nov. 12 appearance at Ethereum’s Devcon conference in Bangkok.

Beam Chain Poised To Be Ethereum’s Biggest Upgrade Since The Merge

“The beacon chain is kind of old,” Drake said during his speech at the conference, adding that “the spec was frozen five years ago.”

Since then, Drake says Ethereum developers have developed a “much better understanding” of how to adapt to maximal extractable value strategies employed by sophisticated traders, which sometimes impact Ethereum’s users.

He subsequently believes that it is time for an upgrade to Ethereum’s consensus layer. Drake added that Beam Chain would unlock faster block times, make Ethereum post-quantum secure, set staking caps as well as reduce the minimum stake for validators on the network from 32 ETH to 1.

I am sorry but does this actually say Ethereum 3.0 ships in 2029

Nothing ships on time so realistically it'll be 2031

THAT IS 7 YEARS FROM NOW

And that's just to improve the consensus layer (not DA nor the EVM)

That is actual insanity. Go ship a damn product. pic.twitter.com/6xi3iSVwyp

— Yano 🟪 (@JasonYanowitz) November 12, 2024

The proposed redesign will also rely heavily on SNARKs and address a few of the mistakes made in Ethereum’s current Beacon Chain consensus layer’s design. Drake went on to say that the proposed redesign will only be deployed once it gets the go-ahead from the community.

Ethereum ETFs Record Second-Consecutive Day Of Inflows

The proposed redesign of Ethereum’s consensus layer by Drake was accompanied by a second consecutive day of inflows for US spot Ethereum ETFs (exchange-traded funds) yesterday. After registering net inflows of $295.5 million on Monday, investors added another $135.9 million to the funds on Nov. 12, according to data from Farside Investors.

BlackRock’s ETHA maintained its dominance with $131.4 million inflows on the day, pushing its cumulative reserves to over $1.67 billion. Conversely, Grayscale’s ETHE resumed its outflow streak after a 5-day pause, with investors pulling out $33.2 million from the fund.