Hi, I’m Viktor Bunin, a Protocol Specialist on the Bison Trails team. This newsletter is the first edition of our monthly update on eth2. It provides inside access to our thoughts on the most important information to know about eth2 as we prepare for Phase 0, the beacon chain launch.
—Viktor Bunin, Protocol Specialist
Danny Ryan (eth2 lead) recently opened EIP-2982: Serenity Phase 0, an official PR to launch eth2 and begin a phased rollout of PoS onto Ethereum. I imagine that he did not do so lightly. This move speaks to his confidence that the launch is near.
The eth2 team released the first public checklist to track the progress of Phase 0. The most important card to track is Ceremony Day. On that day the team will deploy the deposit smart contract (required to start the beacon chain), release the final protocol spec, and announce the protocol launch date.
The swift arrival of Ceremony Day is dependent upon two things: the stability of eth2’s Medalla testnet and at least one successful dress rehearsal / dry run (deposit and genesis testnet).
Although Ceremony Day was originally slated for the first week of October, the addition of another dry run will likely push it back a week. If Zinken goes well, we expect Ceremony Day to occur shortly after.
Bison Trails speaks with various eth2 researchers and client teams every week. The focus now is getting ready for launch. We currently anticipate a mid-November mainnet launch and are preparing to help our customers participate.
Given the amount of participation in DeFi, Keep’s Stake Drop, and NuCypher’s WorkLock (where an astounding $125M of ETH was locked), it is clear ETH holders are actively looking for opportunities to deploy their tokens. There is cautious, but intense, excitement for eth2 staking. From our conversations, few ETH holders are willing to stake all their ETH, but most are planning to stake a portion.
Being early is important. Per eth2’s design, the first stakers will be earning a significantly higher rate of reward on their ETH. Service providers like exchanges, custodians, and wallets will find eth2 staking customers and their assets are highly sticky as staked BETH cannot be moved until Phase 1.5, which is two or more years away.
Most importantly, we expect to see a flight to quality in eth2 participation. Due to the expected wait before staked tokens become transferable, we expect ETH holders to prioritize working with companies they believe can stand the test of time and will continue to operate in the coming two to four years.
Our team is putting the finishing touches on our product and completing end-to-end testing on the core eth2 features we will support. Clients can expect to make use of our:
In addition to completing the feature work, our team is busy producing and refining our documentation to ensure the onboarding process is as smooth as possible.
After months of development, we're excited for our first clients to access the product and provide feedback so we can deliver the best product. We’re proud to support the network at launch and we look forward to working with you.
Have eth2 questions? Please don’t hesitate to reply to this email to ask or contact us here!
Thank you, –Viktor
Are you an individual with a large amount of ETH? Please contact us to learn how to participate in eth2.
Bison Trails is a blockchain infrastructure platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company based in New York City. We built a platform for anyone who wants to participate in 20 new chains effortlessly.
We also make it easy for anyone building Web 3.0 applications to connect to blockchain data from 30 protocols with QT. Our goal is for the entire blockchain ecosystem to flourish by providing robust infrastructure for the pioneers of tomorrow.
In January, 2021, we announced Bison Trails will be joining Coinbase to accelerate our mission to provide easy-to-use blockchain infrastructure, now as a standalone product line as part of Coinbase. The Bison Trails platform will continue to support our customers. With Coinbase’s backing, we will enhance our infrastructure platform and make it even easier to participate in decentralized networks and build applications that connect to blockchain data. Read more.
Who’s who in eth2: Raul Jordan from Prysmatic Labs
Feb 27 2021Substrate ecosystem update 005
Feb 26 2021eth2 update 011
Feb 25 2021Announcing Polkadot Indexer, the easy way to optimize participation
Feb 25 2021Launch fully synced nodes in minutes with Global Blockchain Sync
Feb 15 2021Meet the Herd: Head of Business Operations Evan Weiss
Feb 12 2021eth2 update 010
Feb 11 2021We’re joining Coinbase!
Jan 18 2021Bison Trails newsletter 011
Jan 14 2021Bison Trails announces support for Terra
Jan 12 2021An opportunity for US banks to work with public blockchains
Jan 11 2021Delegating digital assets 101
Jan 9 2021View more →