Rocket Pool Able To Launch ETH 2.0 Staking With New Withdrawal Contracts

Ethereum 2.0 could see withdrawal contacts for staked Ether (ETH) possibly as soon as the first quarter of 2021. This, in turn, will allow Rocket Pool, a staking service for ETH 2.0, to launch.

Potential For Withdrawal In ETH 2.0’s Phase 0

The Beacon Chain, being the Phase 0 of the ETH 2.0 rollout, had been launched on the 1st of December, 2020. An impressive 900,000 ETH was deposited with various stakers, but will not be able to withdraw these funds until Phase 1.5 comes to fruition. Luckily for these stakers, it’s expected to arrive somewhere around early 2022.

However, just last week, a new proposal was introduced by Danny Ryan, an Ethereum developer. This proposal would allow for simple withdrawal contracts to be written today, albeit expressive ones.

Not Perfect, But A Good Step Regardless

In case the proposal itself is implemented, Ryan estimates that a solid 80% of all use cases needing withdrawal contracts will be satisfied in the process. It should be noted, however, that he also stated that it wouldn’t unlock complete functionality.

Ryan explained that the more sophisticated features could potentially not be built on the simple scheme, at least not until the Beacon Chain reads are implements. However, he did assure the public that most designs using withdrawal contracts can be implemented, serving as a stopgap for the time being.

These new contracts won’t allow withdrawals on their own, however. Instead, staking pools will be allowed to initiate payouts.

Rocket Pool Needing Withdrawals To Operate On ETH 2.0

Rocket Pool stands as a decentralized staking platform based in Australia. Its niche is providing hodlers that don’t have the mandatory 32 ETH to pool their respective funds to enact staking. In a blog post made on the 1st of December, the platform showed that it’s waiting for smart contract withdrawals to be enabled before it plans on going live.

David Rugendyke, the founder of Rocket Pool,  explained that a centralized custodian is needed in order to control validator withdrawal keys. This must be done in order to democratize staking in the current environment that doesn’t allow for ETH 2.0 withdrawals.

Rugendyke explained that this, in turn, would cause trust issues, ones that aren’t worth giving up Rocket Pool’s core values and risking the deposits of its various users in the process. As you would imagine, Ryan’s proposed solution only received praise from Rugendyke, calling it a very good step in the right direction. Rugendyke called for massive support for the entire proposal.