Ethereum's Next Major Upgrade 'Dencun' Scheduled for 2024 Testnet Launch

By: Isha Das

The tentative date for the initial testnet deployment of Ethereum's upcoming 'Dencun' upgrade has been set for January 17, 2024. This decision was reached during the latest bi-weekly developer meeting. The upgrade has been moved to 2024 from late 2023 due to the intricate engineering involved.

Ethereum support lead stated that the date might change depending on any unforeseen challenges. The team plans to roll out a comprehensive blog post about the fork one week prior to the scheduled date in order to get stakeholders ready for the update.

The developers laid down a draft schedule for the Dencun upgrade's test phases. Projected mainnet launch, should all go well, is set for the end of February 2024. The upgrade is set to enhance Ethereum's storage capacity, thus reducing Layer 2 rollup fees and scaling the blockchain by creating more space for data blocks known as 'proto-danksharding'.

A joint initiative between Avail and StarkWare was also outlined, aiming to develop app-chains acting as Layer 3 solutions within the Starknet Layer 2 network. Ethereum developers reiterated their dedication to keeping Ethereum at the forefront of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technology through continuous innovation and market demand adaptation.