Hello, friends,
As we conclude the year of the Merge, we wish to provide updates from numerous Ethereum gardeners and EF-supported groups that accomplished long-awaited milestones, both significant and minor, alongside the greater ecosystem in 2022. We have so much to appreciate, from the new communities we’ve engaged with, to having mutual support throughout this journey!
As always, this summary series emphasizes EF-supported teams whose members strive to enhance and develop Ethereum as a whole. Featured in this edition are updates from many teams mentioned in the earlier report, along with other new and evolving groups.
Enjoy!
Consensus R&D (aka EF Research Team)
Written by Danny Ryan and Hsiao-Wei Wang
This has been an incredible year. With the expertise of client teams, DevOps experts, testers, stakers, and the broader community, we successfully merged ✌️🐼!
SINCERE THANKS TO EVERYONE for participating in The Merge, which has drastically diminished energy usage, and for helping to create a more secure and sustainable Ethereum protocol. Transitioning Ethereum’s mainnet consensus method to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) represented a remarkable achievement that the Consensus R&D team has been pursuing for many years – but this only tells part of the story!
Moreover, the Consensus R&D team has been addressing emerging challenges in the MEV area (e.g., proposer-builder separation (PBS), MEV smoothing/burning), contemplating security enhancements to the beacon chain (e.g., single slot finality (SSF), single secret leader election (SSLE)), alongside various other consensus research topics – multi-dimensional EIP-1559, improved aggregation methods, optimized applied cryptography, and more.
Next year, our team will continue to focus on, but not limited to, the following:
- Planned and tentative protocol upgrades
- Withdrawals functionality: this feature will allow stakers to withdraw their balances from the beacon chain to their execution layer accounts. The consensus-layer core specifications are nearing completion, and client teams are actively implementing and testing this capability.
- EIP-4844 known as proto-danksharding:
- Further post-merge research subjects, such as proposer/builder separation (PBS), Verkle trie/statelessness, single slot finality (SSF), data availability sampling (DAS), fee market refinement, single secret leader election (SSLE), and additional topics.
Cryptography Research
Written by Dankrad Feist
The cryptography team has embarked on a mission to fortify Ethereum against quantum computing risks. Our team members have developed a post-quantum signature scheme slated for standardization by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). We remain dedicated to this endeavor, working on a signature scheme that scales more effectively through aggregations. Down the line, we may enhance scalability through improved aggregation methods or by employing different hardness assumptions.
Fe-lang
Written by Grant Wuerker
The Fe team aspires to deliver the Ethereum community a secure and efficient smart contract programming language. The team oversees the development of Fe-lang and the creation of its core elements, including the compiler, standard library, and tools.
Throughout the past year, the team has concentrated on incorporating language features and preparing for our inaugural beta release. Below are some key highlights from 2022:
Remarkable language features:
- Low-level intrinsic functions (0.12.0).
- Nested structs in memory (0.13.0).
- Standard library with evm and context modules (0.14.0).
- Nested structs in storage (0.14.0).
- const folding (0.14.0).
- Function argument labels (0.15.0).
- Nested structs can be returned and passed to functions (0.19.1).
- Braces! (0.19.1).
- Traits and generic function parameters (0.19.1).
- Enums and match statements (0.20.0).
- mut keyword (0.20.0).
For a comprehensive list of changes, please check the releases page.
Tools:
- @zjhmale created a Hardhat plugin.
- Some contributors developed VS Code plugins:
Additional:
- Yoshi has been developing a compiler backend specifically designed for smart contracts called Sonatina.
- A few simple contracts were validated using K.
Our primary objectives as we approach 2023 include: the initial beta release.Fe’s journey to deployment), enhanced generic assistance, improved constant support, and advancements to the standard library. We are particularly enthusiastic about forthcoming Bountiful challenges.
Formal Verification
Written by FV team
hevm
We have dedicated most of this year to rewriting the symbolic execution engine in hevm. This overhaul converts EVM into a specially designed intermediate representation and subsequently generates SMT inquiries according to the layout of the terms within this IR. This framework grants us substantially greater command over the specifics of the SMT encoding and simplifies the implementation of customized simplification and static analysis phases.
SMTChecker
In the previous months, we concentrated on bug resolutions and user experience enhancements. A significant new feature that was incorporated is the ability to utilize the Horn solver Eldarica when employing the CLI or JSON interface from solc.
Yools
A few months back, we initiated Yools as a proof of concept, evaluating the notion that verifying Yul instead of both Solidity and EVM bytecode carries numerous benefits. The initial findings are quite encouraging, and we’re eager to persist with this project in 2023.
PolySolver, a solver for generalized polynomials
We established this research line with the aim of validating properties of polynomials from ZK applications/circuits. Recently, we’ve started applying it to R1CS circuits in partnership with 0xPARC and other entities.
Geth
Written by Péter Szilágyi
2022 was slightly less speedy regarding Geth feature deliveries, primarily due to the Ethereum Merge, which consumed the bulk of the team’s time for testing, adjustment, and generally ensuring everything operates correctly. Nonetheless, we have a range of intriguing developments we’ve been engaged in during this period.
Path-based trie storage
Perhaps the standout forthcoming feature – at least for us as maintainers – is Gary’s path-based trie storage. A few years ago, we figured out how to perform state pruning, but required resolution of one obstacle: fast sync. This necessitated launching a new synchronization protocol (snap), not just for Geth but also aiding other clients in getting it out the door. With the fast sync problem resolved, we can finally convert the state-trie storage model in Geth from hash keys to path keys. While this represents a highly invasive modification in Geth, it will ultimately enable us to execute complete, real-time historical state pruning during block processing. The bonus is that full sync actually becomes faster. 🙂
TL;DR A brief preview from a while back.
Light clients
One unfortunate outcome of The Merge was the impact on light clients. Previously, they only required tracking the chain of headers, validating the PoW, and acquiring Merkle proofs to access the Ethereum state. In a post-merge context, however, PoW is absent, meaning that light clients can no longer depend solely on execution layer headers to monitor the chain. The only practical solution is to track the beacon chain headers, at least in some respects. Zsolt has been focused entirely on reproducing the minimal essential beacon data structures in Geth and making them accessible in the LES protocol to restore light client functionality. This also necessitates cooperation with consensus client teams to obtain the requisite data, which takes some time. The silver lining is that this effort might not only rectify light clients but also allow full (but non-block-producing) nodes to follow the chain without an attached consensus client! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just oversee one application again!
Shanghai
We’re barely past the merge, yet protocol development never ceases. The Shanghai hard fork is already somewhat scheduled (exact details still under discussion), and Matt has been tirelessly working on the two main attributes: withdrawals and Ethereum Object Format. The former is already being deployed on cross-client testnets. Withdrawals will finally conclude The Merge, allowing staked ether and accrued rewards to be collected, while the EOF initiative will facilitate a neater internal organization of smart contracts, simplifying compiler tasks and enabling the implementation of several more advanced features. After the year’s #TestingTheMerge, Marius is currently assisting in a similar capacity to expedite and improve the Shanghai readiness.
Blob transactions
Possibly postponed until the Cancun hard fork, but already under extensive development is the support for blob transactions (also known as 4844), which would permit the Ethereum network to generate large transactions (128KB each) that possess a temporary lifespan (2-4 weeks). The purpose of these transactions would be to enable layer 2 solutions to commit to and prove substantial batches of data very affordably, without incurring an indefinite storage expense on all full nodes. This should make L2s considerably cheaper and ideally allow Ethereum to onboard the subsequent wave of users. This effort has been led by Coinbase’s Jessie and her team and is presently being assumed by Peter to integrate where feasible and reimplement where Geth’s DoS specifications necessitate a different strategy from the original PoC work.
Verkle trees
Looking even further ahead, Guillaume has been engaged in substituting Ethereum’s Merkle trees with Verkle trees. This could potentially be the most intrusive alteration ever made to the Ethereum execution layer, bearing consequences across virtually every facet of the network. The benefit of Verkle trees would be considerably simplified state proofs, potentially allowing stateless clients. This year, he assembled a functional proof of concept, initially operating in a PoW testnet and currently a PoS testnet. For the present, performance-wise, improvements are still required as it’s approximately 2.5x slower than Merkle trees, but we’re on the path. Extensive research and development are being conducted to figure out how to transition from Merkle to Verkle without halting the entire network (the conversion of the data structures currently takes over a week).
Go-leveldb
Throughout the years, we have experienced both highs and lows with utilizing go-leveldb as our storage backend. Our eternal gratitude goes to Suryandaru Triandana for developing it and offering assistance from time to time! Nevertheless, the project’s lack of maintenance for several years has left us without an adequate upgrade option: we were unable to implement our enhancements, and some upstream modifications even brought about denial-of-service vulnerabilities that remain unresolved to this day. We explored numerous alternative databases (RocksDB, BoltDB, Badger, Postgres) and ultimately settled on Pebble, a relatively recent – yet actively supported – Go port of RocksDB. Jared is presently spearheading the integration efforts – focusing mainly on securing one or two essential features that we depend on to be accepted in the upstream Pebble projects. Transitioning from LevelDB to Pebble, we do not anticipate any change in performance, just a bit more peace of mind! 😛
Integrated transaction tracers
This might not be the most prominent feature, but we have invested considerable effort in refining and extending Geth’s embedded transaction tracers – which, for those who missed the update – now all execute natively in Go and are quite efficient. Sina has been the main contributor in this area, also making some of the tracers adjustable. A significant feature we are planning and currently developing is live-tracing, which would enable Geth to launch with specific tracers explicitly requested at startup, running alongside standard block processing and saving the tracing results to disk. This should allow users dependent on traces to bypass the fragile 128 block window needed to quickly trace something before the state is pruned.
Documentation & Website
Surprisingly enough, this year we’ve started putting some energy into improving our online documentation to make it less chaotic. Special thanks to Joseph for navigating through our tangled mess of pages and working to clarify them. Alongside this endeavor – with sincere appreciation to the ethereum.org team – we have also been developing a new website for Geth. Don’t expect an immediate influx of new or varied information; our new site will primarily align with the previous structure, but it should be a refreshing update compared to the default bootstrap template we hastily assembled ages ago just to establish a downloads page. Contributions are encouraged!
And, that concludes it! 🙂
JavaScript Team
Written by Holger Drewes
The EthereumJS libraries trace back to as early as 2014 and symbolize a sustained effort to both modernize and maintain an uncluttered code base. In 2022, we conducted a major series of breaking releases:
- Introducing native JavaScript BigInt support
- Implementing larger structural modifications such as isolating a “pure” EVM from the historically accumulated VM package code, and also…
- Equipping the libraries for the Merge.
For 2023, numerous developments are on the horizon. We are actively engaged in an implementation of sharding (specifically: EIP-4844 “Shard Blob Transactions”), we have merged EIP-4895 “Beacon Chain Withdrawals” code, and our plan is to finalize the five Ethereum Object Format (EOF) EIPs that are being evaluated for mainnet by building on the initial EIP-3540 implementation, which will allow us to participate in an early EOF-focused testnet (likely in January 2023).
Our EthereumJS (execution) client continues to advance. We recommend checking out the PEEPanEIP podcast episode in which our team member Gajinder discusses how our client experienced the Merge and the potential for a future light client.
The client is now capable of serving an entire Ethereum testnet along with a Lodestar consensus client instance. These efforts have resulted in the introduction of an early Pre-Shanghai testnet named Shandong later in the year, which activated various EIPs considered for Shanghai and was well received by the community and other client teams.
We will build on these experiences and roll out a continued series of dedicated “Community Testnets” throughout 2023, which will be HF-independent and iterate swiftly with early EIP integrations and a strong emphasis on (dev) community needs. Keep an eye out for an announcement here!
On Ultralight, our Portal Network implementation has greatly improved over 2022, and we have now begun working on proofs of concepts that utilize an Ethers provider, replacing the traditional third-party RPC provider (e.g., Infura) and already successfully servicing (some of) the JSON RPC requests in a purely decentralized manner by employing a distributed Portal Network (!!). Ongoing results are promising, but we still need to gather more information on “soft” aspects such as performance, scalability, and network robustness. Additionally, there are networking issues being tackled concerning the pure browser use of the developed solution.
As for Ethers: Ethers v6 is just around the corner. Stay tuned for an announcement in the upcoming weeks! 🤩 You can catch up on what to expect by watching this YouTube Devcon talk from Richard.
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Ipsilon (Execution Environment research)
Written by Alex Beregszaszi
Last year we successfully launched our “website”, where the majority of our efforts can be seen. This year we have also been active on Twitter.
EIPs
This has marked the “Year of EIPs” for Ipsilon. We have developed and released a considerable number of them. In sequence of maturity:
PUSH0 and Initcode metering
EIP-3855: PUSH0 (offering a beneficial gas enhancement) and EIP-3860: Initcode metering (minimizing DoS threats) have been approved for the Shanghai upgrade.
EOF
The collection of EIPs dubbed EVM Object Format (EOF). This encompasses EIP-3540, EIP-3670, EIP-4200, EIP-4750 and EIP-5450. The groundwork on EOF commenced in early 2021 and the phases were divided, as initially we did not foresee launching them all at once. Presently this group, informally referred to as “big EOF”, is under consideration for inclusion in Shanghai (or Cancun).
Twitter featured several informative threads (1 2 3) discussing EOF, its functionalities and advantages for the ecosystem. To highlight a few:
- Significant gas reductions with the revamped control flow system (static jumps enabled by RJUMP and RJUMPI).
- Newly introduced instructions, such as RJUMPV to effectively manage switch/jump-tables.
- Organized contracts (segregation of various code sections and data) simplifies analysis (both automated and manual), thereby potentially lowering security vulnerabilities.
- This architecture provides the means to validate contracts at the time of deployment, which diminishes runtime overhead and risks.
- The format is flexible and permits the introduction of features that were not feasible previously (an illustration being EIP-663 and evmmax).
The ongoing efforts can be tracked on the EOF1 Checklist page.
Unlimited SWAP/DUP
Associated with EOF is EIP-663, which brings forth the long-awaited swaps and duplications that can access greater stack depth — this could eradicate those dreaded “Stack too deep” errors generated by Solidity. This modification is suggested for Cancun.
Others
In addition to these, we have focused on various other proposals:
- EIP-5000 (in partnership with Solidity) rolls out a MULDIV instruction, which could dramatically lower the cost of fixed-point mathematics, a fundamental aspect of many (DeFi) applications.
- EIP-5656 (in association with Vyper) presents a MCOPY instruction, which offers economical memory copying at a 2-5x cost decrease in comparison to current methods. This likewise “deprecates” the identity precompile.
- EIP-6046 is our (not thoroughly developed) endeavor to address the “SELFDESTRUCT-problem”.
- evmmax (in collaboration with geth), the subsequent phase of the evm384 project, introduces a limited number of instructions which can serve as foundational elements to substitute several existing and anticipated proposed “precompiles”.
These are not yet put forward for any upgrade, but some may potentially make it into Cancun.
evmone and fizzy
On the software side, EVMC 10.0.0 and
“`evmone 0.9.0 has been issued, which accommodates Paris (Merge) and, amid other modifications, restructures gas accounting of refunds. These versions are utilized by Silkworm and by Solidity’s testing framework. Alongside, a series of intx releases were launched, primarily to enhance the speed of arithmetic computations in evmone.
We have also finally rolled out a long-awaited version of Fizzy v0.8.0, which encompasses the bulk of the anticipated features. This incorporates built-in runtime measurement. The efforts on Fizzy are paused, for the time being.
Portal
Composed by Piper Merriam
The Portal Network is a multi-team initiative spearheaded by Piper Merriam that seeks to provide lightweight protocol access to the Ethereum ecosystem. The Portal Network represents a fresh array of distributed peer-to-peer storage systems that are tailored for the verifiable storage and retrieval of all the information comprising the execution chain, which is essential for interfacing with the Ethereum network.
Throughout the year, the Portal team has been diligently engaged in developing trin, our client for the Portal Network. The overall Portal Network project has been steadily working on creating this entirely new specialized storage network and is poised to launch the inaugural version of this new protocol to the Ethereum community in 2023. Our immediate focus is on delivering the “History” protocol, which will grant access to all block headers and bodies from the Ethereum execution chain’s historical records. All three independent client implementations have advanced this year to thoroughly execute the fundamental functionalities necessary for initiating robust live networks.
In the past month, we unveiled our initial version of “Portal Hive,” a “black box” testing instrument that confirms compliance of the various client implementations with the protocol standards. We have also launched the first version of “glados,” our network health monitoring system which diligently assesses the network to verify content availability. These represent significant achievements for the project, indicating a shift towards establishing live networks with authentic data.
In the upcoming months, we anticipate the activation of the history network, with an increasing volume of historical data becoming accessible for retrieval. Our subsequent emphasis will be on deploying the Beacon chain light protocol and providing the relevant data. Following this, we will address the Ethereum State data, the canonical transaction index, and the transaction gossip network.
Privacy & Scaling Investigations
Written by the PSE Team
The PSE team has been tirelessly engaged on an ever-growing roster of projects this year. Below is a highlight of what the members of the PSE team have been working on – a more extensive listing of ongoing projects can be located at appliedzkp.org.
We’ve been intrigued by the potential of privacy-preserving social applications made possible by a decentralized ecosystem of composable infrastructure. We’ve developed and tested tools such as:
- Semaphore for establishing anonymous identities to engage within customized groups.
- Unirep for confidential non-repudiable reputation.
- Interep, ZK-Chat for secure communication, and RLN for anonymous spam safeguarding.
- Crypt-Keeper for ZK identity administration and proof generation.
Concept proof applications like Zkitter and UniRep Social have allowed us to visualize these experiments and observe how individuals interact in contexts that seem familiar yet function in fundamentally different manners.
On the scaling side, we are researching how succinct proofs can enhance efficiency across various domains, from gas expenses to throughput, and even validating Ethereum itself:
- BLSWallet offers elements for an L2 smart contract wallet utilizing BLS signatures and combined transactions to decrease gas fees.
- Zkopru integrates the use of zk-SNARKs and optimistic rollups for economical private transactions on L2.
- The zkEVM Community Edition is one of several zkEVM initiatives utilizing zk-SNARKs to simplify and reduce the cost of L1 transaction verification.
We’ve also made strides in confidential voting and Public Goods funding. We supported severalteams implementing MACI (Minimal Anti-Collusion Infrastructure) for tailored quadratic voting and quadratic funding cycles. With assistance from teams associated with ESP, Devcon, EcoDev, and others, we have aided local leaders in the Ethereum ecosystem in adopting [zk]Quadratic Funding globally; each version was a chance to refine the tools and procedures, aiming for a more community-driven, privacy-first, quadratic funding operators that generate value for their communities.
Numerous team members displayed their work at Devcon VI in Bogotá. More than a dozen PSE projects showcased, alongside a collective team initiative to organize the Temporary Anonymous Zone community hub, featuring a demo application where participants engage anonymously as part of a Devcon VI Semaphore group.
PSE is an expanding community, and we welcome contributors and innovators of all types! You can stay connected with us on Twitter and Mirror, or join our Discord to get engaged.
Protocol Support
Written by Tim Beiko
The Merge was, undoubtedly, the most crucial aspect for Protocol Support to get right in 2022. The team contributed to coordination, community outreach, and a long list of varied tasks, from launching bordel.wtf to releasing the Merge Manual. On September 15th, we commemorated Ethereum’s successful shift to proof-of-stake! A few weeks later, we celebrated the efforts of merge contributors by performing a song for them at Devcon.
Since then, we’ve been busy with both Shanghai/Capella, which focuses on Beacon Chain withdrawals, along with preparing for the next upgrade dedicated to EIP-4844, also known as protodanksharding. This should keep us occupied for at least the initial half of 2023. The first two things you can anticipate are devnets (and tutorials!) for Beacon Chain withdrawals, and the commencement of the KZG Ceremony, for which we recently announced a grants round! For more on these protocol enhancements, check out the latest AllCoreDevs update.
In addition to upgrades, the team concentrated on two other major initiatives in 2022. The first was initiating Protocol Guild. The guild, whose concept was originated in a tweet, is a collective of over 120 Ethereum L1 maintainers to whom DAOs and individuals can contribute as a means of supporting the protocol. Unlike standard grants, which focus on organizations, funds directed to PG go directly to individual contributors. To explore the concept, a one-year pilot was introduced in May. Six months in, PG has released a mid-pilot update and its plans for 2023. Anticipate a new, governance-light version of PG, deployed on both L1 & L2s, featuring a much longer vesting timeline.
The second significant initiative PS took was (re)launching the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (formerly known as Core Dev Apprenticeship Program, or CDAP). The EPF offers participants stipends and mentorship to allow them to delve into the “core dev” path with the aim of onboarding proficient contributors to client and research teams. This third cohort includes over 20 participants, with a few engaging in a permissionless manner, working on a range of projects including MEV, light clients, account abstraction, and sharding. Once it concludes, around ETHDenver, we will take time to review how it progressed and areas for improvement. We anticipate running another cohort to commence over the summer.
Last but certainly not least, contributors to the Ethereum Execution Layer Specification, known as EELS, have recently integrated into the PS team. The work on EELS will supply Ethereum’s EL with a more accessible specification, from which it is easier to create test vectors. It is also a substantial move towards aligning how modifications are described across the execution and consensus layer, considering the latter already possesses a similar specification. If you were contemplating drafting an EIP, it might be worthwhile to check out EELS as it could be simpler to use a Python diff rather than reimplementing extensive portions of Ethereum in markdown pseudocode!
Remix
Written by Rob Stupay and Yann Levreau
IDE Updates:
We commenced the year at v0.21.0 and have just unveiled v0.29.0. For comprehensive details regarding what has been updated on the IDE, please refer to our year-end article.
Process
The Remix team has been incorporating User-Centered Design methodologies into our processes. We’ve sought user insight via our “Ask Remix Anything” sessions, individual user interviews, support channels, and outreach on social media. We’ve also integratedbeta testers into our launch procedure. These new avenues for feedback have proven to be quite beneficial.
Dogfooding
We utilized the IDE for several projects. At ETHDenver, we developed a token-curated, upgradable playlist and song minting dApp for Rocky Mountain Public Media. Next, we created Remix Rewards, an ongoing initiative designed to reward Remix contributors, beta testers, and UX research participants with NFT badges. We also launched Remix Challenges, quizzes utilizing ZK proofs. We subsequently started integrating the Remix Challenge quizzes in our workshops; they serve as an excellent demonstration project for showcasing Remix’s features. Through our use of Remix across all these demo projects, we were able to identify several aspects where we could enhance the tool, which we then addressed.
Workshops & Talks
During 2022, members of the Remix team held workshops and presentations at: ETHDenver, Devconnect, Solidity Summit, Kuala Lumpur Ethereum Meetup, EthCC, SmartCon, EThSafari, Devcon (one of which was conducted in Spanish), ETHVietnam, and ETHIndia.
A preview of 2023
Here are some key points from our 2023 Roadmap:
- Enhancing Remix’s functionality when facing slow internet connections
- Boosting Remix’s overall efficiency
- Adapting Remix for “low code” applications
- Incorporating new functionalities and developing requested features
- Hosting additional workshops
Robust Incentives Group
Written by Barnabé Monnot
This year, our team engaged in numerous discussions regarding the economics of Ethereum with industry partners, as well as academic grantees and collaborators. We facilitated ETHconomics in April during Devconnect, a meeting of industry researchers and academics who explored various aspects of protocol economics for the Ethereum base layer and rollups. In December, we co-hosted the inaugural Columbia Cryptoeconomics Workshop. Additionally, we have recently published RIG Open Problems, an initiative aimed at decentralizing our research approach.
Apart from other works and presentations listed on our homepage, here are additional subjects that occupied us this year:
Snake Charmers [Python Ecosystem]
Written by Keri Clowes
In 2022, we implemented many thrilling modifications throughout our libraries. We launched our first beta iterations of web3.py v6, which set the stage for numerous long-desired breaking modifications within our stack. These breaking modifications involved:
- Optimizing the eth-abi API
- Eliminating support for obsolete Python versions (3.5 and 3.6)
- Phasing out camelCase syntax in favor of snake_case (and many more)
Notably, strong asynchronous support is now achievable via the AsyncHTTPProvider. A comprehensive list of updates to web3.py can be found in the release notes section of the documentation.
Mid-year, we experienced The Merge, prompting updates to eth-tester, web3.py, and py-EVM to accommodate the Paris hard fork. Furthermore, we introduced several new features to our ENS module, including support for ENSIP-10 and the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol.
We have also focused on making web3.py highly extensible, leading us to introduce APIs for custom modules and methods. This allows users to seamlessly manage non-standard JSON-RPC methods or even integrate a complete L2 API. Additionally, we have dedicated time to modernizing our libraries this year, including support for Python 3.10 and 3.11, along with updating our release processes.
We placed a strong emphasis on developer relations this year, as Marc keeps prioritizing educational content primarily focused on web3.py patterns and internals, targeted at a diverse range of developer skill levels. These articles can be found at snakecharmers.ethereum.org.
He also presented at Devcon VI and at the inaugural Pychain conference.
We initiated a developer survey to gather insights regarding the types of users we have, along with how they utilize web3.py and our supporting libraries. Participate in the survey here.
In 2023, our team intends to:
- Enhance the asynchronous providers in web3.py and launch a stable web3.py v6.
- Make adjustments to our libraries stack to accommodate the Shanghai and other subsequent network upgrades in 2023, including modifications to clients and smart contract languages.
- Integrate insights gained from the survey and other feedback avenues into our roadmap.
- Continue to prioritize users by creating educational blog posts and presenting at various events.
Security [Security / Consensus Tests]
Written by Fredrik Svantes
We commenced this year with the distinct aim to ensure The Merge’s success regarding security, therefore during the initial half of the year and prior to The Merge, our endeavors were chiefly centered on testing and enhancing security wherever feasible within the protocol and clients. At the time of The Merge, no significant problems were detected and everything seemed to proceed exceptionally well.
Throughout this year, we engaged in various activities leading up to and beyond The Merge. Some of our initiatives began with a merge threat evaluation and were associated with fuzzing utilizing tools like Antithesis, Nosy Neighbor, Beacon Fuzz, Engine API Fuzzer, EL fuzzers, and other fuzzing tools.
Additionally, we have conducted manual audits on clients, libp2p, L2s, Bridges, validator hardware, mev, collaborated with external auditing firms for certain audits, investigated methods to diminish DDoS threats to validators, and more.
One of the perhaps more publicly recognized enhancements was our significantly amplified bounties (4x), but we have also introduced tools such as Nosy Neighbor and Secure Drop.
The security team maintained close collaboration with the protocol support team and the client teams through weekly merge testing discussions and has been operating its own validators for the testnets.
Finally, the team has presented multiple talks and published several articles regarding security, such as
Keep an eye on our “Secured” blog posts if you wish to discover more about our activities.
In 2023, the team will concentrate on:
- Internal security audits of Capella/Shanghai
- Further advancing our testing capabilities
- Coordinating an external security audit of Account Abstraction
- Coordinating and disseminating vulnerability reports via the Bounty program
- Internal manual specifications and client audits
- Operating and enhancing fuzzing infrastructure
- Internal security audits of Layer 2/Bridges
- Conducting client security calls for enhanced collaboration on security
- Coordinating external security audits
Solidity
Written by Franziska Heintel
In 2022, we launched 6 Solidity releases featuring the following key achievements:
In addition to the ongoing development of the compiler and language, we also engaged with the ecosystem:
- We organized the Underhanded Solidity Contest 2022, which was a remarkable success. The aim of the contest is to write code in Solidity that appears innocent and straightforward but actually harbors malicious behavior or backdoors. Check the Board of Fame for all winning entries!
- In April, we hosted the Solidity Summit, a one-day conference, as part of Devconnect in Amsterdam. The Solidity Summit is a collaborative event centering on the future of Solidity. Find a recap of the event with the complete agenda and links to all presentation recordings here.
If you want to catch up on recent Solidity advancements, here’s a selection of presentations the Solidity core team members delivered in 2022:
In December, we published “Solidity Core Team Updates” on the Solidity blog, highlighting the most significant happenings within the core team.
Last but not least: The Solidity Developer Survey 2022 launched on December 7! If you are a Solidity developer, please assist us by sharing your perspectives and take 10 minutes to participate in the survey here. The survey will conclude on January 7, 2023.
ZoKrates
Written by Thibaut Schaeffer
2022 proved to be a fruitful year for ZoKrates:
- It began with the introduction of a Solidity verifier for the Marlin proving scheme by Nirvan Tyagi, marking an excellent initial contribution to the project.
- Throughout the year, a multitude of new features were added to the language, including variable shadowing, a broader array of complex types, and enhanced conversion tools between numeric types.
- During the summer, ZoKrates received an upgrade to a more contemporary syntax. No longer will you see endif and other outdated language constructs.
- The remaining part of the year was dedicated to integrating assembly blocks into ZoKrates. Traditionally known for its higher-level features, ZoKrates will soon empower developers with the ability (and accountability) to write low-level constraints manually.
- Lastly, Georg Wiese created an integration of ZoKrates with a variant of the Plonk proof system, which is also nearing completion.
The ZoKrates team eagerly anticipates welcoming more developers into the ZK ecosystem in 2023!
