Ehereum 2.0 Welcomes its First Comer – While Ethereum 2.0 will be launched in a few days, Prysmatic Labs has released the first version of its Prysm client, compatible with the Ethereum 2.0 mainnet. However, questions about decentralisation remain outstanding.
Prysm client ready for take-off
A few weeks after its launch, the Ethereum 2.0 depot contract finally reached the ETH 524,000 required to launch the beacon chain.
As a result, the launch of the beacon chain, which is also equivalent to the creation of the first block, will take place on 1 December.
With the famous date fast approaching, Prysmatic Labs like Binbot has just deployed version 1.0.0 of its client Ethereum 2.0, Prysm.
„We are pleased to announce Prysm version 1.0.0 with full support for the Ethereum 2.0 core network. »
– Preston Van Loon, developer of Ethereum on Github
This makes Prysm the first Ethereum 2.0 customer to be ready for the launch of the mainnet. Despite this, Prysmatic Labs does not rule out the possibility that one or more patch versions may be deployed between now and the launch of the beacon chain.
What about centralisation?
Although this news is good news for the launch of Ethereum 2.0, it will not be without impact on centralisation.
Indeed, during the Medalla testnet, initiated last August, an overwhelming majority of nodes – 96% – were using the Prysm client.
This centralisation around a single client poses many problems. Indeed, one of the objectives of Ethereum 2.0, and more particularly of its compatibility with several clients, was to solve the problem of dependence on the client Geth encountered on Ethereum 2.0.
Hopefully other customers will be ready for the beacon chain launch and the decentralisation will be more pronounced than in the Medalla testnet. It is also up to the validators not to all rush to Prysm and to explore the use of other clients.