ETH
2.0 Deposit Contract Reaches Threshold to Launch on Dec. 1
The smart contract set to
trigger the first phase of Ethereum 2.0 now has enough funds in it to
activate Ethereum’s ambitious upgrade that will shift the cryptocurrency’s
economic model, resource usage and governance.
The Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract was released
in early November, and now has more than 600,000 ETH worth over $378 million,
above the 524,288 ETH threshold necessary to ensure Ethereum 2.0 will launch
on December 1. The upgrade plans on solving a number of issues, including
scalability.
The launch isn’t of the
Ethereum 2.0 network itself just yet, but is for a parallel proof-of-stake
blockchain dubbed “the beacon chain.” It will run alongside the existing ETH
network and its initial development will not impact Ethereum and its existing
applications.
The activation of the beacon
chain is the first of four phases on the migration to Ethereum 2.0.