Original Title: “AllCoreDevs Update #015”
Original Source: AllCoreDevs Update
Original Translation: Stephanie, ECN
Summary
The Shapella upgrade is now live! We're in the final planning stages for the next upgrade, Dencun. The EIPs currently slated for inclusion are 4844, 6780, 1153, and 6475, though none of their specifications have been finalized yet. EIPs 2537, 4788, and 6493 have been added to the candidate list, while many other proposals remain under discussion on the EthMagicians forum. I've also drafted EIP-6953, which outlines the long-standing mechanisms for triggering network upgrades. This summer, I'll be speaking about Ethereum governance at several events; you can find the full schedule below.
Shapella Upgrade
It's live! While there were a few minor hiccups during activation, withdrawals on Ethereum are now processing smoothly—just as expected.
Dencun Upgrade
When the last AllCoreDevs update was published, the Shapella upgrade specifications were mostly finalized but still subject to change. After that post, all specs were locked in, and progress updates—including the final mainnet version—were published on the Ethereum Foundation blog. Protocol announcements now also support email subscriptions!
This update follows a similar pattern: we now have a provisional set of EIPs tentatively planned for the next network upgrade, Dencun (Deneb + Cancun). Below, I'll outline what they are, why they're important, and which candidate EIPs are still being actively considered.
Note that this update focuses mainly on Ethereum's execution layer—there may be consensus-layer developments I've omitted. If possible, I'll publish another update once the Dencun upgrade content is finalized. More realistically, though, my next publication will likely be the first testnet fork announcement. Now, let's dive into these EIPs!
Included EIPs
EIP-4844: Proto-Danksharding
EIP-4844 needs little introduction—it's the centerpiece of the Dencun upgrade. In short, it introduces temporary "data blobs" to the Ethereum network, which L2s can use to publish transaction and proof data that is currently stored in CALLDATA.
Because blobs are stored only temporarily, their gas cost is expected to be significantly lower than CALLDATA, which persists permanently on-chain. This should substantially reduce L2 transaction fees for users, as over 90% of current L2 costs come from L1 data storage. For a deeper dive into EIP-4844, visit eip4844.com, which offers multi-level technical explanations, FAQs, and more.
While this upgrade isn't as large-scale as The Merge, EIP-4844 represents a major change for Ethereum: it introduces an entirely new data layer that both the consensus and execution layers must interact with. Given its scope, EIP-4844 limits the bandwidth for other modifications within the Dencun upgrade.
That said, several other EIPs will also be included alongside EIP-4844.
EIP-6780: Deactivate SELFDESTRUCT Unless Called in the Same Transaction as Contract Creation
The second major change in the Dencun upgrade is the deactivation of the SELFDESTRUCT opcode via EIP-6780. This proposal has been discussed for years and received a formal deprecation notice during the Shapella upgrade.
Recent analysis revealed a common pattern for SELFDESTRUCT: contracts being created and destroyed within the same transaction. EIP-6780 preserves this functionality—if SELFDESTRUCT is called in the same transaction as contract creation, its behavior remains unchanged.
In all other cases, the opcode will no longer delete the contract's storage or code, though any ETH held by the contract will still be transferred to the target address.
While client teams currently consider this the best approach for handling SELFDESTRUCT, a more comprehensive impact analysis is still underway. Once completed, the specification may be revised to address additional edge cases—or even replaced entirely by an alternative like EIP-6046, which is also under consideration.
In other words, removing SELFDESTRUCT for the Dencun upgrade is now a question of "how," not "whether."
EIP-1153: Transient Storage
The third modification included in Dencun is EIP-1153. First proposed nearly five years ago and revived by the Uniswap team last year, this EIP enjoys broad support across the Ethereum developer community. It introduces two new opcodes—TSTORE and TLOAD—that provide transient storage cleared at the end of a transaction. This enables various use cases, from reentrancy locks to multiple ERC-20 token approvals within a single transaction.
EIP-1153 was previously considered for Shapella but was ultimately deferred. This time, client teams have agreed to move forward with it. A key factor enabling its inclusion, beyond its robustness and utility, is the exceptional technical advocacy behind it: Uniswap and other teams provided all execution-layer clients with complete reference implementations and comprehensive test suites for EIP-1153.
EIP-6475: SSZ Optional Values
The final included modification can be seen as a companion to EIP-4844. Proto-danksharding introduces a new transaction type encoded with SSZ instead of RLP, which is used for other transaction types.
For a long time, there have been discussions about fully migrating Ethereum's execution layer to SSZ encoding, given its richer structure and adoption on the consensus layer. However, implementing such a migration remains too engineering-intensive for the Dencun upgrade. EIP-6475 defines one element of SSZ—Optionals—used in the EIP-4844 transaction format, ensuring forward compatibility with future SSZ objects planned for Ethereum.
As discussions continue about the optimal long-term SSZ formats for general transactions—and specifically for EIP-4844 blob transactions—both EIPs are expected to undergo further revisions.
Candidate EIPs Under Consideration
Beyond the EIPs formally included in this upgrade, client teams maintain a candidate list of proposals that could still be added.
EIP-2537: Precompiles for BLS12-381 Curve Operations
This EIP has been under consideration for inclusion in some form since 2019. Historically, there was reluctance to introduce new cryptographic curves to Ethereum's execution layer. However, the Beacon Chain relies heavily on BLS12-381, and since The Merge, BLS has effectively become a "core" dependency of Ethereum—with secure, highly optimized libraries already available.
This precompile will enable the verification of Beacon Chain signatures directly on the execution layer, unlocking new use cases that leverage this cryptographic curve.
EIP-4788: Beacon Block Root in the EVM
Similar to EIP-2537, this proposal bridges information from the Beacon Chain to the execution layer. It adds the Beacon Chain block root to the execution payload, which is then stored in a smart contract. This stored root can be accessed via a new opcode, `BEACON_ROOT`, which takes a slot number as input and returns the corresponding Beacon block root.
This enhancement will allow staking pools, bridges, and restaking protocols to implement more trustless designs.
EIP-6493: SSZ Transaction Signature Scheme
Complementing EIP-6475, this EIP defines a signature scheme for SSZ transactions. While it doesn't apply to existing RLP transactions, it ensures forward compatibility between the current EIP-4844 SSZ signature scheme and potential future overhauls of the execution layer's SSZ implementation.
Note: EOF-related EIPs are not part of this upgrade.
Although considered for both the Shapella and Dencun upgrades, the entire EOF suite has been formally excluded this time due to bandwidth constraints. Discussions are now focused on prioritizing them as "main features" for future upgrades, though client teams have not yet reached a formal consensus.
Other Proposed EIPs
The full list of proposed EIPs for this upgrade is available on the Ethereum Magicians forum. While the core items for Dencun are likely already decided, surprises are still possible! For instance, the initial team feedback on EIP-5656—the MCOPY opcode proposal introduced at the last ACD meeting—was notably positive.
Network Upgrade Activation Mechanisms for EIPs
Announcement: I've drafted an informational EIP that catalogs the various mechanisms historically used to trigger network upgrades—from PoW blocks and epochs to TTD and, now, timestamps.
Hopefully, we won't need to move away from the current epoch-plus-timestamp combination.
Summer (Remote) Talks
Over the next few months, I'll be giving several talks sharing my perspective on how Ethereum's governance process works. Some are confirmed in-person, some are remote, and others are still tentative. In chronological order, I'll be attending EDCON, ETHPrague, ETHShanghai, EthCC, and ETHMontreal.