Happy to report that after a month of work, EIP-8198 aka Quick Slots was merged as a feature spec in the Ethereum consensus specs! Many thanks to @jih2nn and @JustinTraglia for their tireless work as spec maintainers 🙌 What does "merging specifications" mean? Specifying a feature means writing up its behaviour, in code and in English, in a repository that has accumulated the detailed description of every feature since the launch of Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake chain. This is the ground truth of how Ethereum consensus runs, and the model that all consensus clients follow to come to agreement with each other. Anyone can contribute to this repository, by submitting “pull requests” with more code and more text specifying a new feature. Pull requests remain open while the proposed changes and additions are reviewed, by specs maintainers and by the persons submitting their contributions. Once they have been sufficiently reviewed, with edge cases uncovered, the pull request can then be “merged”, and live inside the codebase of the specs, instead of besides it. This is usually a signal that the feature’s specs are now stable enough to evaluate in the context of other proposed changes. In particular, it also makes it easier for clients who want to start prototyping the feature, to do so on specifications that are no longer expected to change drastically. There can still be misses and unknowns, but at least the current thing has passed this first, close review. Importantly, this does not mean that faster slots have made it into Hegotá. We are still two steps away from it: Quick slots were Proposed for Inclusion on August 6th, and next week, on October 1st, we will likely be discussing raising its level to Considered for Inclusion at ACD. Should a decision then be made to include in the fork, quick slots would then become Scheduled for Inclusion, the last step. PFI -> CFI -> SFI. Easy eh? 😅 So this means the job's not done 🫡 We'll continue to advocate for a strong prototype of quick slots based on the specifications. We're continuing our outreach to ecosystem smart contracts and teams for who a slot change may impact their operations. And we're continuing to research the future of shortening slot times with post-quantum cryptography and zkEVM in view, beyond Hegotá. In the meantime, find the specs here: github.com/ethereum/consensu…

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Initial hype around the L2 roadmap was too early But as major platforms with real users are built on top of Ethereum, liquidity network effects at the L1 can finally take hold Derive, Base, Robinhood, Lighter are entirely different beasts than the first wave of generalized L2s. They bring net-new distribution and app-specific functionality not possible on L1 Ethereum is back.

The Fast Confirmation Rule is a new rule that may soon be relied on for millions of $$$s in bridging volume. Here is how we keep it secure. - FCR is an algorithm clients run locally instead of something they read from the chain (like finality). It's more complicated to implement. That is why we advise all users to leverage client diversity and rely on the output of at least two different consensus clients. For example, only fast confirm a block if both Lighthouse and Teku fast confirm the block. - @fradamt is working on formal verification of FCR. That would mean FCR's safety guarantee is proven against the Ethereum consensus spec's FCR implementation (under the regular FCR assumptions). - Both the consensus spec as well as client implementations are now covered under the Ethereum Foundation's Bug Bounty Program. That means bugs found by security researchers could lead to good payouts!

Thank you for taking the time 🙏 Can feel Ethlabs shifting ethereum into next gear

@ethlabs_org is now 3 months old since our June 22nd announcement 🥳 thought I'd share some musings as co-founder, on culture, goals and impact, also prompted by @apriori0x in the recording we made nitter.net/apriori0x/status/20983… letssgo --- establishing an org culture starts from day one, and I think we've hit it mostly, with moderate hiring since we started that has gelled well so far. I had reflected early on on culture here nitter.net/barnabemonnot/status/2… 3 months in I would say these are the main features: - goal-driven, we're not attached to specific means, we want a clear outcome and we go after it whichever way we need to - high urgency, I wake up in the morning hungry to pick up the tickets and threads that my US frens and EU night owls have left - ai native, this is a superpower and also gives a fresh spin to a lot of work that i used to enjoy doing but wasn't doing much of anymore (data collection/analysis, code/specs). i'm not the biggest consumer either, truly amazed by the strides @fradamt is making with AI-assisted formal verification - user-centric, we're still early and can always refine our approach here, but we really want to be intentional with it. building these feedback loops is imo one of our most critical needs atm. particularly as a non-profit, it's the only way to ensure impact - working in public, it's a healthy default and imo a responsibility given the nature and mission of our org, to work on behalf of the Ethereum community for the betterment of Ethereum. we push updates weekly, putting in some work to keep them engaging and high signal. see here ethlabs.org/writings/ --- the funny thing is it feels still like we are learning about ourselves, and what we can do with this new org. some observations on what's working well from my POV: - i think it is clear that we can have strong impact on core protocol direction and development still. one example, our hegotá view, led by @casparschwa @fradamt and @adietrichs, was a labour of love and rigour, and we held ourselves to a very high standard in coming up with our rankings ethlabs.org/writings/hegota-… work on account abstraction, fast finality, fast slots, all ongoing - i think we are growing well to be a "defragmenter" between L1 and L2s, sometimes a relayer helping to signal what one needs from the other, sometimes a more involved builder bridging the gap. @decentrek's work on 8130<>8141 is strong evidence, and @ox_shaman is accelerating quickly on following up its conclusion with a broad effort to maximally defragment accounts. better integration between L1 and L2s, their liquidity and their users, remains a key work stream for us. right now we're zoomed in on blobs, their demand and their supply - i think we've been good at building connections with strong teams working on the private and public buildout of the Ethereum network, and leveraging these connections. this is starting to compound for instance on going-to-market with the fast confirmation rule or the quick slots piece ethlabs.org/writings/quick-s…, and getting signal on our directions. kudos to @_julianma and @binji_x for doing so much outreach --- but! given these capabilities, are we tackling the right goals? this is a lot of our current internal chatter: - our stated mission is to make Ethereum the settlement layer for the global economy. ethereum has been unreasonably effective at attracting users and capital to its network, thanks to its unique properties. it is working, we want to make it work better, and maintain its lead + increase its footprint in the world - how can we be more principled with problem identification? we're taking it both bottom-up and top-down. some concrete work emerges organically from internal reflections and external engagement, and we also spend more time now top-down/first principles-refining our intuitions. this helps connect the dots and move up and up to bigger and bigger targets - in particular, feeling like Ethlabs can do more advocacy and work on ETH the asset, rooted in our technical work and ecosystem engagement. ETH is a big part both of the network's utility, and its reach to export the values of Ethereum. this matters. - feeling like there are big opportunities around asset issuance and tokenisation, bringing the global economy onchain, and the role of the L1 in this conversation, as critical node in the transport layer of these assets throughout the network - I like to keep moving and adjust on the fly, as action creates information. no one feels under-allocated. feeling slightly mis-allocated is probably right to keep our heads up and reflect on what is the most impactful thing we could be doing. we might not be going after the biggest fish right now, and we shouldn't be ideological about choosing our targets. it's a conversation we should keep having both internally and externally --- - last point, apart from all this, wow there is a lot of admin! we wanted to hit the ground running asap so decided to backload some of it, there's some more to get through but we're getting there. thank god for @joshrudolf --- that is all for today, back to making ethereum faster 🫡 gn

Verifiability is imo the most underrated property of truly public blockchain networks. On Ethereum, you can permissionlessly run a small machine and convince yourself that billions/trillions of dollars of transaction value (payment, swaps, credit etc) were settled according to committed rules. Not only for L1 but also for L2s. It’s the ultimate security backstop, and it gives the Ethereum network a herd immunity and “eyes on the street” that are hard to beat in the class of fully programmable environments.

Ethereum's "special chain" thesis explained in one clean idea. ETHLabs thinks Ethereum is the best place to issue assets because when you issue on Ethereum, those assets "can move seamlessly from Ethereum to any other L2 and even other L1's such as Solana." Faster finality and the fast confirmation rule would make Ethereum the only chain that can settle fast AND stay truly trustless. FT @_julianMA @binji_x @decentrek

Where should the issuers tokenize assets? Base Layer or Execution Layers? "We want assets to be tokenized on the L1" — not for ideological reasons, but for product reasons. Assets issued on an L1 distribute more easily across L2s and can be used as collateral in app-chains within seconds. The UK regulator has already said that blockchains can serve as the official ledger of record for money market funds. That changes everything about why L1 security properties matter. FT @_julianMA @binji_x @decentrek

Why will ETH dominate? The same reason the US dollar dominates. "The reason why ETH will dominate is because Ethereum has the best digital infrastructure of all the blockchains." As the dollar flows seamlessly across global markets, underpinning all those financial products, ETH flows seamlessly across L2s. Look at the top trading pairs on Base, Arbitrum, Robin Hood's chain — most are denominated in ETH. FT @_julianMA @binji_x @decentrek

> Quick Slots received an S-tier ranking from Teku, A-tier from Prysm and Lighthouse, C-tier from Lodestar and a preference to not include for Nimbus and Grandine. imo quick slots should absolutely be included in hegota. S-plus tier. It's because Step 1 is to learn to reduce slot times at all, Step 2 is to dial that knob up, and it takes years between the steps, so we need to start now. If we don't include quick slots in hegota, it'd be a signal that we are fine with the risk that block times are 12 seconds in 5 years. But we're absolutely not fine with that as shorter block times help deliver faster finality and hugely & directly contribute to L1 dominance as the global hub. LFG quick slots.

Ethereum is special because it is the only thing that two opposing nation-states can use. China would never use the US’s blockchain, and the US would never use China’s blockchain. So a neutral substrate must emerge to house the global digital economy. & that’s Ethereum.

Literally this. If there is one takeaway you need to take on why Ethereum is special - this is it. And it's not just China-US. The geopolitics of the world are absurdly complex and deeply opposing parties trade with each other *all* *the* *time*. The path of lowest friction is using the same ledger for all transactions.

fast finality mentioned - good stuff actually

9 people did a lot of things this week

I am 13 weeks old today. Week 13 was filled with 20+ teams sharing why a Faster Ethereum L1 matters, research into potentially cutting finality times by more than half, and a lot of digging into what L2s and wallets need next.

This is big news. The road to a faster Ethereum with faster finality is clearing.

Ethereum in 2027 is going to be almost unrecognizable. High throughput, native AA, near native privacy. Meanwhile, foundations for of a faster Ethereum and for the PQ transition are being laid. If we keep apps and users in mind as the protocol transforms, the future is bright.