Ethereum 2.0 Off Track? Phase 0 Most Likely To Release In 2021

Eth2 behind schedule as Ethereum 2.0 researcher expects Phase 0 to release in January 2021. However, Vitalik Buterin urges the release of Phase 0 in 2020. 

Ethereum 2.0 Long Overdue?

The Ethereum community has been awaiting the network’s biggest update for the longest time now. Ethereum 2.0 also known as Serenity would initiate the transition of the Ethereum network from Proof-of-Work [PoW] to Proof-of-Stake [PoS]. This significant network update would address several issues including scalability as well as privacy. Ethereum 2.0’s Phase Zero was scheduled to release sometime in the Q1 of 2020, however, that boat had sailed and the network’s team revealed another delay in Eth2.

In an Ask Me Anything [AMA] session on the social media platform, Reddit, Justin Drake a researcher of Ethereum 2.0, also a member of the Ethereum Foundation revealed that Phase 0 of Ethereum 2.0 is most likely to see the day’s light only by 3 January 2021. Phase 0 of Ethereum 2.0 was originally scheduled to launch in January of 2020. While the team further pushed the date to the Q3 of 2020, Drake pointed out that the holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas could hinder the progress of Phase 0.

This delay comes in response to the checklist that the network should tick off before the network rollout. Drake elaborated on the list of the things that he hopes to witness before the genesis.

Vitalik Buterin Disagrees

Replying to the same, Ethereum’s creator, Vitalik Buterin suggested that he was inclined towards releasing Phase 0 much before the latest launch date, notwithstanding its ‘level of readiness.’ Further elaborating on his statement, Buterin wrote,

“Eth1 took 4 months from the first multi-client testnet to launch (~end of March 2015 Olympic to end of May 2015 for eth1 launch), and I’d argue the four-month clock started ticking for us at the beginning of July when Altona launched.”

Buterin further argued that Phase 0 of Eth2 was both simpler as well as intricate than Eth1. However, he suggested that eth2 Phase 0 was simpler on-net. He added,

“…more complex PoS, but no complicated GPU-oriented PoW; more optimization required, but no complicated VM, etc etc.”

Anthony Sassano, the Co-founder of EthHub suggested that this delay wasn’t actually a delay as an exact date wasn’t given out by the team. However, soon after Buterin posted his comment on Reddit, Sassano highlighted that Drake’s prediction was a false alarm. Danny Ryan from the Ethereum Foundation was also seen favoring Buterin’s comment.

The release of Ethereum 2.0 has been constantly delayed. As the community is running out of patience, the coordination between the members also seems to be taking a hit.