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10/31/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/31/2024 21:24

Ethereum All Core Developers Consensus Call #145 Writeup

On October 31, 2024, Ethereum developers gathered over Zoom for All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call #145. The ACDC calls are a biweekly meeting series where developers discuss and coordinate changes to the consensus layer (CL) of Ethereum, also known as the Beacon Chain. This week, the call was chaired by Ethereum Foundation (EF) Researcher Alex Stokes.

Developers shared updates on the status of Pectra Devnet 4 and a public Pectra testnet called Mekong. They discussed changes to Pectra specifications they would like to include for Pectra Devnet 5. They reconfirmed efforts to rebase PeerDAS on Pectra, rather than Dencun. However, they did not come to a decision about activating PeerDAS as a standalone EIP or as part of the Fusaka upgrade on devnets moving forward.

Pectra Devnet 4 Updates

EF DevOps Engineer Barnabas Busa said there were no major problems with Pectra Devnet 4. Client teams have implemented various fixes such that all clients are able to propose blocks on the devnet. Busa said that based on Pectra Devnet 4 specifications, his team launched a public Pectra testnet called Mekong earlier in the day on October 31, 2024. His team is working on creating a dedicated blog post and FAQ documented detailing how users can join the public Pectra testnet and try out the new features of the network. Busa said he foresees Mekong running for a few months for the benefit of the broader Ethereum ecosystem and will potentially shut it down before the end of the year. It is a large testnet supported by 110 nodes and approximately 100,000 active validators. Because it is based on Pectra Devnet 4 specifications, the testnet lacks certain features such as EIP 7742 (Uncouple blob count between CL and EL).

Pectra Devnet 5 Preparations

Stokes ran through a few outstanding issues related to Pectra specifications that developers aim to close out and finalize before the launch of Pectra Devnet 5.

  • Consensus specifications, PR #3900: This PR introduces a new attestation type for formatting validator and committee indices to simplify how attestations are processed. Developers agreed to move forward with this change and include it in Pectra Devnet 5 specifications.

  • Consensus specifications, PR #3767: This PR removes certain time out responses when nodes handle data requests from peers and replaces them with a rate limiting recommendation. This is a backwards compatible change. Developers agreed to move forward with it and include it in Pectra Devnet 5 specifications.

  • Consensus specifications, PRs TBD: Stokes said there are a few PRs in the works implementing tweaks to the way execution layer requests are handled on the consensus layer. There were no objections to this comment and Stokes said that developers will move forward with these PRs in Devnet 5 once they are ready.

  • EIPs, PR #8994: Lodestar developer Gajinder Singh has recommended updates to the EL headers and gas fee mechanism under EIP 7742 (Uncouple blob count between CL and EL) such that the base fee calculation can respond more accurately to changes in the blob gas target. There are deeper revisions that developers could implement to ensure accuracy in the base fee calculation. However, based on the discussion, developers agreed to opt for the simpler changes suggested by Singh and delay deeper revisions to the base fee calculation to another upgrade.

  • There were no updates on the BLS precompile benchmarking efforts. For more context on these efforts, refer to prior call notes.

  • Consensus specifications, PR #4000: Teku developer Mikhail Kalinin has proposed a PR to add missing checks to validator consolidation requests. Kalinin requested a review of this PR so that it can be finalized for Pectra Devnet 5.

PeerDAS Devnet Updates

PeerDAS Devnet 3 has been shut down after a reported 100,000 slot reorganization. Busa said that it was "unfeasible" for his team to try and recover the network after the incident. He could not share further details about the cause of the reorg. He mentioned that the Prysm team is in the process of investigating the matter.

It is likely that client teams will not launch a new PeerDAS devnet until after the Ethereum developer conference, Devcon. Busa said that client teams are focused now on rebasing PeerDAS specifications on Pectra, instead of Dencun. He asked whether future PeerDAS devnets should trigger code changes as part of the Fusaka upgrade or as a standalone EIP. One of the concerns about triggering PeerDAS as part of the Fusaka upgrade is that it may then have dependencies on other code changes already slated for inclusion in Fusaka such as EOF.

Stokes said that developers can bring this topic up for discussion again on the next ACD call. However, in his view, he thinks that developers should move forward with implementing PeerDAS as part of the Fusaka upgrade. Geth developer "Lightclient" said in the Zoom chat that PeerDAS is the "most important thing to ship" for Ethereum and that even if EOF is ready to ship before PeerDAS, developers should delay EOF activation until PeerDAS is ready. Basically, he was doubling down on the importance of including PeerDAS in the next immediate upgrade after Pectra.

New EIP: Withdrawal Credential Update

Lucas Saldanha, a Lead Blockchain Protocol Engineer for Consensys, has proposed an EIP to allow validators to update their withdrawal credentials without having to fully exit their validators. Since many new validator operations such as deposits, withdrawals, and consolidations, will be triggerable through a smart contract after Pectra, validator node operators may wish to update their withdrawal credentials such that they are managed through a smart contract. However, there is no way for withdrawals credentials to be updated unless the validator is exited. To avoid the need to cycle validators for the purposes of updating withdrawals credentials, EIP 7800 offers a mechanism for validators to update their withdrawal credentials through a new execution request type, "0x03". Prysm developer "Potuz" and Kalinin expressed their support for the EIP. While it will not be included in Pectra, it may be in EIP for consideration in a future upgrade.

As a reminder, Stokes said that the ACDC call scheduled for November 14 will be cancelled as many developers will be attending Devcon.

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