Ethereum core developers recently addressed two Beacon Chain finality issues within a day by rolling out patches for Prysm Labs and Teku clients. The Beacon Chain serves as the consensus layer for the Ethereum network, ensuring transactions are confirmed and finalized on the blockchain. The incidents took place on May 11 and 12, with finality issues persisting for 25 minutes and over an hour, respectively.
The Ethereum Foundation stated that the problem was likely due to high load on some of the Consensus Layers clients, caused by an exceptional scenario. Despite the network not being able to finalize, live and end users were still able to transact on the network. This was possible thanks to client diversity, which means a greater number of software clients available to network validators results in a more robust and secure network. Not all client implementations were affected by this unique situation.
Teku and Prysm have now released upgrades that implement optimizations to prevent beacon nodes from using excessive resources. This should help to mitigate any future issues similar to those experienced on May 11 and 12.
It is worth noting that a related situation occurred on March 15, which led to a delay in Ethereum’s “Shapella” upgrade for the Goerli testnet. The upgrade was eventually deployed on April 12. The integration of Ethereum’s pre-existing proof-of-work chain with the Beacon Chain occurred on September 15, 2022. This facilitated the network’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, which is faster and consumes less energy.
Ethereum’s recent increase in activity may, in part, be due to the trading hype surrounding various memecoins. This has resulted in higher staking rewards rates for Ethereum. On-chain data reveals that Validators earned $46 million in the first week of May, equivalent to 24,997 Ether, marking a 40% increase compared to the previous week’s income of $33 million (18,339 ETH distributed as rewards).
The recent issues with the Beacon Chain finality highlight the importance of continuous improvement in blockchain technology. It is crucial for developers to remain vigilant and proactive in addressing potential vulnerabilities, as well as maintaining a diverse ecosystem of clients. With Ethereum’s ZK-rollups gaining interest for their interoperability possibilities, it will be interesting to watch how the network evolves to accommodate growing demand and remain resilient in the face of unforeseen challenges.
Source: Cointelegraph
