What is Proto-Danksharding?

Proto-Danksharding, also known as EIP-4844, is an intermediate step towards full Danksharding that aims to significantly improve Ethereum's scalability, particularly for Layer 2 rollup solutions.

Related Reading: What is Rollup?

Key aspects of Proto-Danksharding

• Data Blobs: Proto-Danksharding introduces "blobs" of data that can be attached to blocks. These blobs are large chunks of data (125 kilobytes each) that are not accessible to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and are automatically deleted after a fixed period (about 18 days)
• Cheaper Data Storage: By using data blobs instead of calldata, rollups can store their transaction data much more cheaply. This results in lower costs for users and more efficient data management for the network
• Scalability Improvement: Proto-Danksharding aims to scale Ethereum to handle over 100,000 transactions per second by expanding the data storage capabilities of the blockchain
• KZG Polynomial Commitment Scheme: This cryptographic technique allows data stored within blobs to be validated without processing the entire blob directly, enhancing efficiency and maintaining compatibility with zero-knowledge designs used by some Layer 2 protocols

Proto-Danksharding is part of the roadmap towards full Danksharding. It introduces 6 data blobs per block, while full Danksharding aims to expand this to 64 blobs per block

Proto-Danksharding has been approved as part of the Ethereum Cancun-Deneb upgrade, which was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet on March 13, 2024

Rollups and Cost Efficiency:

Rollups, such as Optimistic Rollups and zk-Rollups, can leverage the extra data space provided by Proto-Danksharding to post their transaction data on-chain more cost-effectively. For instance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) application using rollups can handle thousands of transactions per second at a fraction of the cost, compared to the current Ethereum mainnet without Proto-Danksharding. This makes transactions faster and cheaper for end-users, enhancing the overall user experience and adoption of Ethereum-based applications.