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Celestia: Launching a blockchain to be as easy as deploying a smart contract

New crypto project wants to give online communities their own sovereignty by easily deploying their own blockchain with their own rules

Developers and communities will be able to deploy their own sovereign, custom-made blockchains at the “click of a button” says Celestia co-founder Ismail Khoffi. 

Speaking with Cointelegraph at Korean Blockchain Week 2022 last week, Khoffi said that the project’s vision is to decouple the consensus and application execution layers to unlock new possibilities for decentralized app builders. Celesita is basically a stripped back minimalist layer one blockchain that offers users the infrastructure that makes it easy to deploy their own blockchain, or layer two rollup.

“One of the goals of Celestia is to make deploying your own blockchain as easy as deploying a smart contract,” he explained, likening the project to Amazon Web Services where “you write your code and click a button, it’s deployed and people can start using it.”

In a similar way to how the new rollup-centric Ethereum vision separates the consensus and data availability layers from the execution layer, Celestia is smodularly-designed but with customizable features which offers users the freedom to choose their execution environments:

“In Celestia, there is no such thing as execution on the base layer, so it's completely outsourced to a different layer. You can have a settlement layer, but as a specific specialized execution layer that only does settlement on top of Celestia, but is its own thing.”

Khoffi added that “communities can [then] choose which settlement layer they want to use, or they can launch their own settlement layer or launch their own sovereign roll up”.

Khoffi said that Celestia was launched on the idea that online communities want some sense of sovereignty, and that they like “the idea of launching their own [...] blockchain” without needing to be “dependent on Ethereum’s governance and design choices”:

“By having your own sovereign rollout [...] you’re not bound to any decision [...] you’re more free in the choices that you have, that you can do on your own chain”.

He said a Decentralized Autonomous Organization may wish to deploy their own blockchain, and make the rules for how it operates, while benefiting from Celestia’s infrastructure and security.

“It will be cheaper, and you're [...] more free in the choices that you have, that you can do on your own chain.”

The Celestia Testnet was deployed in May 2022, and the Celestia Team is planning to launch the Mainnet in 2023. However, Khoffi said that there are still “optimizations to be done and bugs to be fixed” before the launch. Celestia has not yet issued a token but has already attracted plenty of hype.

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

PoW Miners Rake in Profits Mining ETH Until the End, Ethash Networks Expect a Boost, JPMorgan Strategists Say ETC Could Benefit

PoW Miners Rake in Profits Mining ETH Until the End, Ethash Networks Expect a Boost, JPMorgan Strategists Say ETC Could BenefitIn just over a month’s time, The Merge is likely to be implemented on the Ethereum blockchain and the network’s proof-of-work (PoW) miners will be forced to mine another coin. So far, it seems ethereum miners are sticking with the PoW Ethereum chain until the very end as profits have increased. While Ethereum will change […]

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

Proposed Ethereum PoW Fork Token Loses Half Its Market Value in Less Than 6 Days

Proposed Ethereum PoW Fork Token Loses Half Its Market Value in Less Than 6 DaysIn 32 days, Ethereum is expected to upgrade from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system after the network used PoW for seven years. While the testnets have implemented the new rules, most people envision a relatively smooth mainnet transition. However, another chain is expected to fork away from the Ethereum branch […]

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

The Merge: Top 5 misconceptions about the anticipated Ethereum upgrade

Clear the fog around the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum, The Merge. Here are five misconceptions that stand out among the rest.

The excitement around Ethereum’s (ETH) upcoming upgrade, The Merge, which involves the merger of two blockchains — Mainnet Ethereum and Beacon Chain — has unknowingly spurred rumors across the community.

Termed the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum, The Merge does indeed mark the end of proof-of-work (PoW) for the Ethereum blockchain. However, here are five misconceptions that stand out among the rest.

Misconception 1: Ethereum gas fees will reduce after The Merge

Ethereum’s impending upgrade will reduce Ethereum’s infamous gas fees (transaction fees) is one of the biggest misconceptions circulating among investors. While reduced gas fees tops every investor’s wishlist, The Merge is a change of consensus mechanism that will transition the Ethereum blockchain from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS).

Instead, lowering gas fees in Ethereum will require working on expanding the network capacity and throughput. The developer community is currently working on a rollup-centric roadmap to make transactions cheaper.

Misconception 2: Ethereum transactions will be faster after The Merge

It is safe to assume that Ethereum transactions will not be noticeably faster. However, there is some truth to this rumor, as Beacon Chain allows validators to publish a block every 12 seconds, which on the Mainnet is roughly 13.3 seconds.

While Ethereum developers believe that transitioning to PoS will enable a 10% increase in block production, the slight improvement will go unnoticed by users.

Misconception 3: The Merge will result in downtime of the Ethereum blockchain

Contrasting the misconceptions that envision positive outcomes for Ethereum from The Merge, a popular rumor suggests that the planned upgrade will momentarily take down the Ethereum blockchain.

The developers anticipate no downtime as blocks transition from being built using PoW to being built using PoS.

Misconception 4: Investors will be able to withdraw staked ETH after The Merge

Staked ETH (stETH), a cryptocurrency backed 1:1 by ETH, currently lies locked on the Beacon Chain. While users would love to be able to withdraw their stETH holdings, the developer community has confirmed that the upgrade does not facilitate this change.

Withdrawal of stETH holdings will be made available during the next major upgrade after The Merge, known as the Shanghai upgrade. As a result, the assets will remain locked and illiquid for at least 6-12 months after the merger.

Misconception 5: Validators will not be able to withdraw ETH rewards til the Shanghai upgrade

While stETH remains blocked for investors until withdrawals are resumed following the Shangai upgrade, validators will have immediate access to the fee rewards and maximal extractable value (MEV) earned during block proposals from the execution layer or Ethereum Mainnet.

As the fee compensation will not be newly issued tokens, it will be available to the validator immediately.

Related: Ethereum will outpace Visa with zkEVM Rollups, says Polygon co-founder

Sharing his take on Ethereum’s untapped potential, Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic told Cointelegraph that zkEVM Rollups, a new scaling solution for Ethereum, will allow the smart contract protocol to outpace Visa in terms of transaction throughput.

Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon's other co-founder, echoed Bjelic’s thoughts as he envisioned the solution slicing down Ethereum fees by 90% and increasing transaction throughput to 40–50 transactions per second.

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Says Date of the Merge Dependent on Hashrate, Points to September 15

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Says Date of the Merge Dependent on Hashrate, Points to September 15

The co-founder of Ethereum (ETH) is providing an update about when the project will initiate the long-awaited network transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). Leading smart contract platform creator Vitalik Buterin gives his 4.1 million Twitter followers a detailed technical breakdown of the computing power required to complete the final block on Ethereum before […]

The post Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Says Date of the Merge Dependent on Hashrate, Points to September 15 appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

Institutional staking won’t take off unless asset lock-up solved: Coinbase CFO

Coinbase's new institutional-focused staking product won't be a "near-term phenomenon" while liquid staking is still being worked out.

Institutional staking of crypto assets, including the post-Merge Ethereum, could become a “phenomenon” in the future, but not while their assets still need to be “locked up.”

Speaking during a Q2 earnings call on Aug. 9, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Alesia Haas noted that she didn’t expect their new exclusive institutional staking service, rolled out in Q2, to be a “near-term phenomenon” until a “truly liquid staking option” is available.

“This is the first time we had the products available. Previously, the way that institutions could have access to staking is via Coinbase Cloud [...] But offering it as the delegated staking service similar to what we have for retail customers.”

However, Haas said it was still “early days” for their new staking service, adding they’ll likely only see a “real material impact” when they have created a liquid staking option for post-Merge Ethereum, also known as ETH2.

Liquid staking is the process of locking up funds to earn staking rewards, while still having access to the funds. 

Haas explained that many financial institutions “don’t want their assets held indefinitely.”

“So when you stake ETH2 you are locking in your assets into Ethereum until the Merge and then some period after. For some institutions, that liquidity lock-up is not palatable to them. And so, while they may be interested in staking, they want to have staking on a liquid asset.”

Haas reaffirmed this issue is “something we are looking to solve”, and added that once this liquid staking is available for financial institutions that can pool in funds at higher proportions, “we’ll see the real material impact of institutional revenue.”

Related: Coinbase partners with BlackRock to create new access points for institutional crypto investing

Investors and institutions have been able to access Coinbase’s delegated staking service through 'Coinbase Prime,' which was first launched in Sep. 2021. The platform also offers other integrated services, such as access to a custody wallet with enhanced security, real-time crypto market data and analytics, and other crypto-native features like decentralized governance.

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

ETH PoS Upgrade to Transition on September 15 to 16 — Ethereum Devs Reveal ‘Tentative Mainnet TTD’ for The Merge

ETH PoS Upgrade to Transition on September 15 to 16 — Ethereum Devs Reveal ‘Tentative Mainnet TTD’ for The MergeFollowing the successful implementation of The Merge into Ethereum’s Goerli testnet, Ethereum developers confirmed during a Consensus Layer Call livestream that the highly anticipated proof-of-stake (PoS) upgrade is coming this next month on or around September 15th to the 16th. After the Ethereum network’s Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) hits 58750000000000000000000, the chain will fully transition […]

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

Ethereum’s Goerli Testnet Implements The Merge, ETH Price Jumps 74% Higher During the Past 30 Days

Ethereum’s Goerli Testnet Implements The Merge, ETH Price Jumps 74% Higher During the Past 30 DaysThe Merge has successfully been implemented into Ethereum’s third and final testnet, Goerli, after previously adding Merge support to the testnets Sepolia and Ropsten. The Merge was added to Goerli at approximately 9:45 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, transitioning to a full proof-of-stake (PoS) network. Goerli’s Merge Transition Is Complete, Vitalik’s Father Dmitry Buterin Says Ethereum […]

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

Ethereum whale transactions peak at 2-month high amid Goerli testnet merger

ETH price reached a new 2-month high of $1,919 as institutional inflows saw seven straight weeks of inflows even when Bitcoin has seen a net outflow in the same period.

The Goerli testnet was successfully merged to the proof-of-stake (PoS) network, marking the final step before Ethereum’s mainnet transition. The triumphant final testnet merger means the mainnet transition slated for Sept. 19 could go as scheduled.

Goerli is the third and final testnet after Ropsten and Sepolia that makes Ethereum's final rehearsal before its official transition to the PoS network.

The PoS Merge is considered to be one of the most significant updates for the Ethereum blockchain since its inception, and the bullish sentiment behind the event has started to reflect on the altcoin’s price. The native token Ether (ETH) has more than doubled its price since bottoming at $885 in June 2022.

ETH price surged over $1,919 on Thursday along with the rest of the crypto market after the government released consumer price index data, which turned out to be lower than expected.

ETH outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of daily gains registering a double-digit surge. Data from crypto analytic firm Santiment revealed that the price momentum was aided by whale transactions valued at $100,000 or more. The increase in whale transactions comes amid a growing accumulation of whales.

ETH Whale Transactions Reach Two-Month High Source: Santiment

ETH also registered a recent uptick in capital inflows into Ethereum-based institutional investment funds. These institutional products attracted $16.3 million from investors in the week ending Aug. 5. Similar funds for Bitcoin witnessed capital outflows worth $8.5 million in the same period, suggesting a growing bullish sentiment among institutional investors.

Related: 3 signs Ethereum price is on track toward $2.5K by September

With the mainnet merger just over a month away, ETH price is seeing a bullish momentum with leading crypto platforms putting their weight behind the Merge. The market seems to be deploying “buy the rumor sell the news” where the ETH price has started to surge in anticipation of a successful transition and could see a substantial price correction after the upgrade in September when traders potentially begin to "sell the news."

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger

3 signs Ethereum price is on track toward $2.5K by September

A slew of Ether's technical and fundamental indicators support a push toward $2,500 by September.

Ethereum's native asset Ether (ETH) has more than doubled in value since bottoming out at around $885 in June 2022. Now, it eyes a decisive move toward $2,500 in August per a slew of technical and fundamental indicators.

Ethereum chain split means more tokens

A big part of Ether's ongoing rally has appeared due to "the Merge," a network upgrade that will switch Ethereum's underlying blockchain protocol from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) in September.

Simultaneously, switching to PoS will also eliminate the role of miners in the chain by replacing them with validators. This fear has prompted Chandler Guo, a Chinese crypto miner, to resist the Merge by keeping Ethereum's PoW version alive.

A chain split is possible as a result. Guo has already branded his version of the Ethereum PoW chain as "ETHPoW," alongside its native token "ETHW." Furthermore, some crypto exchanges have already listed the token for trading with even Binance considering doing the same, if necessary. 

A key takeaway from a potential chain split is existing Ether holders will receive an equal amount of tokens from the new chains.

In turn, that could boost ETH's demand in the market, leading its price toward the $2,500 mark in the run-up to the Merge. 

Bullish flipping underway

During its recent price recovery, Ether has confidently rallied toward a critical support-turned-resistance range of $1,625-$1,975.

ETH/USD now aims to retake the range as support, thus giving itself a strong price floor to pursue a rally toward and above $2,000. Its nearest upside target is the 50-week exponential moving average (50-week EMA; the red wave in the chart below) at $2,340.

ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

The next range breakout target could be at the Ether' multi-month descending trendline resistance (the black line) at around $2,500.

Institutional inflows gain momentum

The technical upside target of $2,500 receives cues from a recent uptick in capital inflows into Ethereum-based investment funds.

Related: Optimism TVL surges nearly 300% M/M ahead of The Merge upgrade

Notably, these institutional products attracted $16.3 million from investors in the week ending Aug. 5. Similar funds for Bitcoin witnessed capital outflows worth $8.5 million in the same period, suggesting a strong upside bias for Ether versus the top crypto.

Net capital flows in/out of crypto funds. Source: CoinShares

Overall, the buzz around the Merge acts as the main bullish catalyst as mentioned above. However, Ether could see a strong price corrections after the upgrade to PoS occurs in September when traders potentially start to "sell the news."

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Ripple, Archax debut first tokenized money market fund on XRP Ledger