Beam Chain: Major upgrade of the Ethereum consensus layer introduces ZK to enhance performance and drop barriers.

Since its inception, Ethereum has undergone a transition from PoW to PoS. A researcher pointed out that although the beacon chain performed excellently when introducing PoS, it has accumulated some "technical debt" in recent years, as its design has not fully leveraged cutting-edge technologies of decentralized systems such as zk-SNARKs. Therefore, the consensus layer of Ethereum urgently needs a major update.

At a recent developer conference, a proposal named "Beam Chain" was put forward, aimed at completely reforming the consensus layer of Ethereum. As part of Ethereum's long-term development plan, Beam Chain will utilize the latest breakthroughs in zero-knowledge cryptography to significantly enhance the network's scalability and performance without launching a new network. This is undoubtedly one of the most critical upgrades for Ethereum in the coming years.

It is important to clarify that Beam Chain is not an entirely new blockchain, but rather a new infrastructure built within the Ethereum mainnet. It will significantly improve the transaction speed, security, and efficiency of the L1 mainnet. Some views misunderstand Beam Chain as Ethereum 3.0; in reality, it only addresses consensus layer issues and will not change the data layer or execution layer.

The five core transformations brought by the Beam Chain include:

1. Faster block confirmation: Achieving 4-second slot time and single-slot finality
2. Maintain Decentralization: Sustain or improve existing decentralization guarantees
3. Lowering the staking threshold: Reducing the ETH staking requirement from 32 ETH to 1 ETH
4. Protect ordinary users: Eliminate MEV based on blockchain reorganization
5. Looking to the Future: Adding Quantum Resistance to the Ethereum Network

The upgrade ideas and principles of Beam Chain:

1. Increase block output

• Increase throughput: Beam Chain boosts block production to three times the current level, enhancing Ethereum's transaction processing capability.
• Enhanced anti-censorship capabilities: Introduced FOCIL (Fork Choice Mandatory Inclusion List) mechanism to ensure transactions are not easily excluded by malicious actors.
• Executing auctions with validator isolation: Achieving validator isolation through executing auctions enhances performance and decentralization, while reducing the risk of users being affected by MEV.
• Accelerate finality: Achieve single-slot finality and 4-second block time, speeding up transaction confirmation and improving network efficiency.

It is worth noting that exchanges will no longer need to wait for multiple block confirmations; in the future, a single block will be sufficient for confirmation.

2. Improve the staking mechanism

• Optimize the issuance model: Adjust the validator reward issuance model to increase staking returns.
• Lowering staking requirements: Reducing the staking threshold for independent validators from 32 ETH to 1 ETH, making independent staking more accessible.

By utilizing zk-SNARKs technology, Ethereum not only speeds up but also accommodates more nodes to participate in consensus without significantly increasing hardware requirements, breaking the impossible triangle of attestation. This advancement is far ahead of the industry.

3. Enhance Security

• Post-quantum cryptography: Implement quantum-resistant cryptography to protect networks from quantum computing threats, becoming a pioneer in quantum resistance among mainstream blockchains.
• Integrate zkSNARK and zkVM: Enhance privacy, scalability, and security through zero-knowledge proof technology.
• SNARK-based Blockchain: Utilizing RISC-V to achieve blockchain SNARKs, improving proof generation efficiency and scalability.
• Enhanced Randomness: Introduce a powerful randomness mechanism to ensure the fairness of key network processes such as validator selection.
• Reduce MEV risks: Decrease the prevalence of bots such as sandwich attacks by enhancing review resistance.

In short, these upgrades can be summarized as: enabling the entire Ethereum network to achieve ZK.

4. Working Principle

Since the current consensus layer design of Ethereum was established, cryptographers have made significant breakthroughs in the field of SNARKs. By SNARKifying Ethereum's state transition function, a 4-second slot time and single-slot finality can be achieved. This not only improves the L1 transaction experience but also reduces potential value extraction by eliminating remote block reorganization strategies, while lowering the technical debt of the consensus layer.

In addition, SNARKification will grant the Ethereum network quantum resistance, which is an essential feature for future blockchains.

Beam Chain will promote the upgrade of Ethereum from the following aspects:

• Use sharding technology to speed up processing: Split data into smaller parts for parallel processing, reducing transaction bottlenecks.
• Quantum-resistant security: Utilizing advanced encryption technologies to ensure that the network's security is not threatened by future quantum computers.
• Integration with Ethereum roadmap: Beam Chain is an integrated phase of Ethereum's roadmap for scaling and enhancing security over the next 5 years, rather than an independent network.

5. Important Significance

Beam Chain is crucial for enhancing Ethereum's ability to handle the growing number of decentralized applications. It will improve scalability, reduce transaction costs, and enhance overall security, enabling the network to support more users and complex applications.

Another major advantage of SNARK-based proofs is that they allow regular stakers using standard hardware to achieve the aforementioned performance improvements. When the staking threshold is lowered to 1 ETH, not only will network performance improve, but the level of decentralization of the Ethereum staker community will also be enhanced.

Especially with the lowering of thresholds, if combined with relevant hardware devices, it may make home-grade validator equipment more popular, further consolidating Ethereum's position as the public chain with the most global nodes and the highest level of decentralization.

Although the vision of Beam Chain will not immediately change Ether, nor will it significantly alter its long-term roadmap, its adoption will change the priority of roadmap development, accelerating the development of certain components. For example, some important upgrades in the current roadmap were originally scheduled for implementation in 2029, but Beam Chain may expedite the process of these upgrades.

If Beam Chain receives sufficient community support, developers may start drafting specifications next year, then the development team will write production-level code in 2026, conduct testing in 2027, and only then can it be safely deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. Although the implementation of Beam Chain seems distant, these safety redundancies are essential for open-source software in decentralized development.

In summary, Beam Chain has solved the past "technical debt" through its zk-SNARKs approach, and these improvements are expected to significantly enhance its L1 functionality while maintaining Ethereum's "world-class decentralization". At the same time, the introduction of long-term solutions such as quantum resistance will put Ethereum's consensus layer into "maintenance mode", ensuring its security, efficiency, and adaptability for the coming decades, laying the foundation for future innovations without the need for disruptive redesign.

Ethereum continues to make long-term plans, which is an exciting development for the entire blockchain industry. This also provides a solid foundation for us to maintain an optimistic attitude towards Ethereum in the current active market environment.