Ethereum 3.0: Beam Chain Proposal Leads Performance Breakthrough

The Devcon conference of 2024 successfully concluded in Bangkok, where numerous projects in the Ethereum ecosystem announced their latest developments and plans, bringing a series of new perspectives and trends to the global Web3 industry. Among them, a proposal called "Ethereum 3.0" was particularly eye-catching.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake proposed a consensus layer upgrade plan known as Beam Chain. The core idea of this plan is to use zero-knowledge proof technology to reduce the computational and communication burden on validators, thereby lowering the threshold for becoming a validator. This will allow more validators to join the network, enhancing security, reducing redundant computation, and improving overall network efficiency. Drake also hopes to take this opportunity to address historical technical debt in the Beacon chain and prepare for potential quantum computing threats in the future.

This proposal coincides with the Verge roadmap previously proposed by Vitalik Buterin. The Verge roadmap includes plans for the Snark transformation of Ethereum, covering both the consensus layer and the execution layer. Vitalik acknowledges that the transformation of the consensus layer is a huge challenge that requires continuous optimization in the future. From this perspective, Beam Chain can be seen as a concrete response to how to achieve Snark transformation of the consensus layer.

Beam Chain mainly focuses on the transformation of the consensus layer. The Snarkification of the consensus layer does not mean that all parts need to be transformed, but rather targets the core of the blockchain - the state transition function. For the consensus layer, the state transition function includes the transition functions for each time slot, each block, and each epoch. These functions involve the execution of consensus algorithms and Staking logic, block proposal, execution layer result verification, Merkle tree root verification, validation and aggregation of consensus signatures, hash calculations, as well as staking and redemption operations.

It is worth noting that Ethereum, in the process of promoting the Snarkification of the consensus layer, still prioritizes decentralization and diversity as primary goals. Therefore, there will be no mandatory requirement to use specific ZK algorithms and protocols, but rather it allows proposers to choose independently.

The core difficulty in realizing the Beam Chain concept lies in how to significantly improve proof efficiency, compressing the current proof time of dozens or even hundreds of seconds down to the second level. Justin proposed a solution using ASIC acceleration methods at a seminar, hoping to complete the entire process of zero-knowledge proof virtual machine on the chip, thereby increasing the proof generation time by more than ten times in the coming years to achieve real-time proof.

Some institutions have made significant progress in this area. For example, some have utilized hardware platforms such as GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs to accelerate various ZK systems, achieving acceleration ratios of over a hundred times for some core operators. In the AI+ZK direction, there are also institutions that have made breakthroughs in verifiable computation of large models, significantly reducing the generation time of the first token.

In addition, to address the potential threats of quantum computers, some institutions have developed cryptographic libraries that support multiple NIST post-quantum algorithms, and by optimizing consensus processes and memory read, the TPS of quantum-resistant blockchains can reach about 50% of the original chain.

The introduction of Beam Chain will undoubtedly guide the community to pay more attention to the transformation of the consensus layer, which is expected to inspire more innovative ideas. As the Snarkification of the consensus layer and execution layer continues to advance, Ethereum's Snarkification blueprint will gradually be completed, greatly enhancing Ethereum's scalability and degree of decentralization.

It is foreseeable that with the advancement of the Beam Chain proposal, virtual machines based on zero-knowledge proof technology will play an increasingly important role in the Ethereum ecosystem. By introducing SNARK proofs and post-quantum cryptography, combined with lower staking thresholds and faster block confirmation times, Beam Chain is expected to bring stronger decentralization and higher performance to Ethereum, pushing the Ethereum ecosystem towards a new stage of development.