red 
In March 2024, the Ethereum network underwent a major upgrade with the implementation of EIP-4844, a key part of the Dencun fork, aimed at enhancing Ethereum’s role as a data provisioning layer. This upgrade introduced “blocks” of data, which greatly enhanced the scalability of layer 2 solutions by increasing data availability by approximately 100x. As with any major upgrade, it is important to assess its impact, understand its implications, and refine our approach moving forward.
To that end, we launched a dedicated data collection round, inviting researchers and developers to dive into the experimental implications of EIP-4844. The response was overwhelming, with submissions exploring everything from consensus layer security to staking economics. Today, we’re excited to announce the winners of this round, who provided critical insights into how this pivotal upgrade will reshape the Ethereum ecosystem.
gold 🥇
Seongwon Park – Decode SNU: Evaluation of the experimental effects of EIP-4844
Seongwan’s work provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of the impact of EIP-4844 on consensus security, Ethereum usage, and transaction dynamics. His research highlights the improvements and challenges this upgrade brings, providing invaluable data to guide future improvements.
silver 🥈
Coffee Cofour: Impact of EIP-4844 on the Assembly Economy
Covey’s ongoing work on the open-source Dune dataset has expanded to include object fee data, providing a detailed view of collection costs and revenues post-EIP-4844. His dashboard simplifies the analysis of collection economics, making it more accessible to the broader community.
Isaac Samuel : EIP-4844: Enabling the Future of Ethereum Scaling with Blob Transactions
Isaac’s project delves into the metrics and significance of microorganism transactions. His massive dashboard on Flipside Crypto tracks on-chain metrics and provides detailed analysis through articles, helping the community understand the broader implications of EIP-4844.
Victoria Tran Blocknative: Blob Adoption and Usage – Insights from the First 85 Days
Blocknative’s presentation highlights early adoption and leveraging of blocks through its innovative Blob Archive API. This tool, along with the Mempool data archive, provides unparalleled insights into the data availability landscape on Ethereum post-EIP-4844.
Yijing Yuan: 4844 visions
Yi Jing’s analysis focuses on block propagation times, layer 2 propagation patterns, and network stability following the Dencon hard fork. Its timely submission, despite a tight deadline, provides key insights into how Ethereum’s data infrastructure will be reshaped for EIP-4844.
Bronze 🥉
Evan Kim -Prime: Control, latency and prior confirmations in the live organism market
Evan’s research explores the emerging digital object market introduced by EIP-4844, examining its similarities to EIP-1559 gas pricing and potential challenges such as transaction delays and censorship. His work proposes innovative solutions, such as “advance bidding,” to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the digital object market.
Michel clouds – Prop Lab: Deep dive into the P2P layer of Dencun Hardfork
Guillaume’s blog post analyzes the impact of the Dencun hardfork on Ethereum’s P2P network layer, focusing on discv5’s public DHT and the gossipsub protocol. His study provides important insights into network performance and areas for improvement.
Leonardo Bautista Gomez(https://x.com/Mega_Labs): A study of the first three months of Blobs’ life on Ethereum
Leonardo’s in-depth study examines the behavior of block data in the first twelve weeks after the Dencon hard fork. His analysis includes the frequency and distribution of blocks per slot, as well as challenges and potential for future scalability.
Leonardo Bautista Gomez(https://x.com/Mega_Labs): Ethereum Hardware Resource Analysis Update
In a second article, Leonardo updates a previous study on the hardware resource consumption of Ethereum clients, comparing performance before and after block submissions. His findings are crucial to understanding the infrastructure requirements of the network’s latest upgrade.
Evan Kim -Prime: Blob Market Slot Listing Rates and Compositions
Evan’s final presentation examines the structural makeup of the microorganisms market, analyzing opening listing rates, competition, and potential oversight. His work lays the foundation for improving the microorganisms market, ensuring that transactions are listed fairly and efficiently.
looking forward
The insights gained from this round of data collection will be invaluable as Ethereum continues to evolve. EIP-4844 represents a critical step forward in Ethereum’s swarm-focused roadmap, and the work of these researchers will help ensure that the network remains secure, efficient, and scalable. As the object market continues to grow, it is approaching a point of congestion, which will undoubtedly provide even more interesting insights into how Ethereum’s infrastructure will handle this increased demand. We are grateful to all participants for their contributions and look forward to further collaboration and innovation within the Ethereum community.
Stay tuned for more updates and future tours as we continue to explore the frontiers of Ethereum development.
