What is Ethereum Casper?
Submitted by a community user - Author: William M. Peaster
The implementation of Casper marks the transition of Ethereum to a Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain, also known as Ethereum 2.0. Although Ethereum was launched as a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain in the summer of 2015, developers have long planned to transition it to a PoS model. After the transition is completed, mining will no longer be part of the Ethereum network.
So far, there have been two jointly developed versions of Casper in the Ethereum ecosystem: Casper CBC and Casper FFG. The CBC version was originally proposed by Vlad Zamfir, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. Although research on CBC initially focused on PoS protocols for public blockchains, it has evolved into a broader research field that includes a range of PoS models.
Research on Casper FFG is led by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The initial proposal included a hybrid PoW/PoS system, but the implementation is still under discussion and the new proposal may eventually use a PoS model only instead.
It is worth noting that Casper FFG is being planned for launch with Ethereum 2.0. However, this does not mean that there will be no action on Casper CBC. In fact, it may replace Casper FFG in the future.
While both versions were developed for Ethereum, Casper is a PoS model that can also be promoted and used in other blockchain networks.
How Casper works
The transition from Ethereum 1.0 to 2.0 is called the "Serenity" upgrade. It consists of three different phases. In its initial phase (Phase 0), a new blockchain called Beacon Chain is launched. Casper FFG will formulate rules to drive this new consensus mechanism based on PoS blockchain.
Unlike PoW mining, where miners need to run expensive and specialized equipment to create and verify transaction blocks, with the implementation of Casper, Ethereum will no longer require the mining process. The verification and confirmation of new transaction blocks will be done by block validators, who will be selected based on their stake.
In other words, the voting power of each validator will be determined by the amount of ETH they hold. For example, a user holding 64 ETH will have twice as much voting weight as a user holding only the minimum amount. To become a block validator in the first phase of the Serenity upgrade, users will need to deposit a minimum stake of 32 ether (ETH) into a special smart contract based on the Ethereum blockchain (1.0).
If everything goes well, a random validator will be selected to submit the newly generated block and eventually receive a block reward. The block reward may only include transaction fees, as there is no block reward.
However, it is important to note that each PoS protocol can be implemented differently, with different reward models. The Casper model is still under development, and many details have yet to be clarified.
Advantages of Casper
One advantage of Casper is that it makes proof of stake possible, which will help Ethereum become more energy-efficient and user-friendly. The PoW-based model has high requirements for system hardware in terms of electricity and computing resources. In contrast, the PoS model has low requirements in this regard. When Ethereum implements the full PoS model in the end, miners will no longer be needed to keep the blockchain running, so the resources required will be lower.
Another potential advantage of Casper is related to security. Essentially, Casper will act as a filter, responsible for sorting blocks in the chain. Basically, it will be the bookkeeper of the Ethereum 2.0 distributed ledger. Therefore, if a validator wants to tamper with the data, they will be quickly removed from the network and punished. The penalty rule is to deduct the validator's stake (ETH), which means that the cost of violation will be very high. However, developers are still discussing the possibility of a 51% attack.
Finally, it is explained that Casper will make Ethereum more decentralized. Currently, the nodes that have strong dominance on the network are users with a large amount of mining resources. In the future, any user who can hold a moderate amount of ETH will be able to help ensure the security of the Ethereum blockchain.
limitation
There is still a long way to go before Casper is finally developed and implemented. At present, its efficiency and safety remain unproven. There are many details that need to be redefined and adjusted. We cannot be sure of its functions and performance until the new version goes live in Phase 0 of the Serenity upgrade.
Theoretical limitations also remain. If Ethereum's verification system is compromised, Casper will not be able to produce new blocks. Given the current architecture, Caspe cannot fully resist 51% attacks. In addition, a formal specification is needed to outline the fork rules that may be needed in response to attacks.
Summarize
Ethereum is gradually moving away from mining and choosing to use a proof-of-stake approach, where users can deposit ether (ETH) into corresponding deposit addresses to keep the blockchain running. Casper is a technology used to produce blocks that can facilitate this shift in Ethereum.
Casper will help create infrastructure based on Ethernet 2.0 upgrades and will make the transition to a PoS model smoother. In addition, the open source nature of the blockchain field also means that Casper's significant advantages can be forked, modified, and reconstructed by other projects.
When Casper is officially launched, it will mark another important milestone in the history of Ethereum. As for when Casper will be released, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake previously revealed that the first phase of Casper may be released on January 3, 2020 (Bitcoin's 11th birthday). However, the date is still full of uncertainty. This version release may be at any time in 2020.
