Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently unveiled the fifth part of his blog series, known as “The Purge”, detailing his vision for the future of Ethereum. The plan aims to simplify Ethereum’s protocol and reduce data bloat, a term used to describe unnecessary storage of data. By eliminating outdated features, Ethereum hopes to enhance its efficiency, making it more user-friendly, while still retaining the blockchain’s permanence.
An integral part of this endeavor is reducing the storage needed for new nodes to assimilate into the Ethereum network. At the moment, fully integrating as a node into Ethereum requires colossal storage of 1.17 terabytes, mostly comprised of historical data. With Buterin’s Purge plan, the requirement for each node to permanently store all historical data could be significantly cut down or even eliminated.
Buterin’s blog also brought attention to the issue of ‘state expiry’. Currently, any new state data, or operational data stored in a database for reference, is stored forever, leading to continuous expansion of the state. Buterin is looking to challenge this with a concept called ‘partial state expiry’, where infrequently accessed data could have its storage paused and only “revived” when needed through cryptographic proofs.
In October, Buterin introduced the concept of ‘The Verge’ to make operating an Ethereum network node more secure and obtainable. The Verge upgrade is designed to lower the hardware requirements for verifying blockchain blocks, eliminating the need to store huge amounts of data by introducing ‘stateless verification.’
Stateless verification would significantly enhance block verification, making the process so computationally efficient that, in theory, even devices with lower resources such as mobile wallets, browser wallets, and smartwatches could operate a node. This paves the way for a more accessible and inclusive Ethereum network in the future.