Hello Hive Fam!

I'm back with another 2 minute crypto explainer video! If you are watching this, you are likely familiar with the Ethereum blockchain - but what all is coming with this 2.0 upgrade?

Eth2.0 is a long-planned protocol upgrade to the Ethereum network called Serenity, which will give it the scalability and security it needs to continue growing.

This change will be released in multiple “Phases” starting with Phase 0. Each phase will improve the functionality and performance of Ethereum in different ways.

Let’s look under the hood and see what are the main things changing and how Eth 2.0 be different than eth 1.0

There are two primary improvements introduced by Serenity: Proof of Stake and Shard Chains.

Proof of Stake: Currently, Ethereum 1.0 runs on a consensus mechanism known as Proof of Work. Now proof of work relies on physical computing power , or miners, and electricity to build blocks. Where Proof of Stake enables improved security, scalability, and energy efficiency. Instead of relying on physical miners and electricity, proof of stake relies on validators or virtual miners and deposits of ether.

Shard Chains: Shard chains are basically a scalability mechanism that improves the throughput of the Ethereum blockchain. Currently, ethereum has a single chain made up of consecutive blocks - which although this is incredibly secure and makes information easy to verify… it does require each full node to process and validate each transaction in consecutive blocks. This can really have an impact on how quickly transactions are processed. Shard chains are a mechanism through which the Ethereum blockchain is “split” – thus dividing the data processing responsibility among many different nodes. This allows for transactions to be processed in parallel rather than consecutively.

I hope you found this high level overview of ethereum 2.0 helpful and I’ll be back soon with more 2 minute cryptocurrency and blockchain explainer videos.

XO, Lea