Anticipating Ethereum’s Hard Fork: In a significant move for the Ethereum network, a hard fork named Prague is slated for 2024. As revealed by Paradigm, a research-driven investment firm, this upgrade is expected to be tested on Ethereum testnets by Q3 2024, with hopes of a mainnet launch by the end of the year.
Focus of the Prague Upgrade: The Prague upgrade primarily aims to incorporate staking-related Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), particularly EIP-7002, which is designed to facilitate re-staking and establish trustless staking pools. Moreover, this upgrade plans to introduce specific changes to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), enhancing its efficiency and functionality.
Other EIPs and Roadmap Clarity: Paradigm’s report also sheds light on several other EIPs earmarked for priority, including EIP-6110 and EIP-2537. The report further discusses the Ethereum Object Format (EOF) and its adoption by programming languages like Solidity and Vyper. Notably, the Paradigm team does not support the introduction of Verkle Tries in the Prague update but remains open to further development in the following upgrade, Osaka, in mid/late 2025.
