Taiko Mainnet Gears Up for BCR Protocol Upgrade: Taiko, a permissionless blockchain protocol for scalable and secure transaction sequencing, is gearing up for a significant upgrade to its BCR protocol. Scheduled for July 1st, 2024, this upgrade promises to enhance efficiency, security, and accessibility for users.
Key Takeaways:
- Version 1.7.0: This upgrade maintains compatibility with existing Taiko-geth and client versions but introduces critical changes affecting block proposers and provers.
- Action Required: Block proposers and provers need to update their transaction parameters to avoid disruptions after the upgrade.
- Benefits: The upgrade aims to optimize gas usage, reduce capital costs for participants, and improve overall protocol security.
Detailed Breakdown of the Upgrade:
- Proposer and Prover Alignment: The new protocol mandates that the block proposer must also be the designated prover. This streamlines the process by eliminating expensive hook calls on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Self-Proving Blocks: Block proposers will now be responsible for proving their own blocks. Those previously relying on separate provers or using two Ethereum accounts (EOAs) for proposing and proving will need to deploy a contract to interact with the TaikoL1 contract. Refer to the ProverSet contract code for specific instructions.
- State Root Verification: Block provers will have an additional responsibility: verifying the stateRoot of an existing transition. If the stateRoot is zero, the protocol will only compare block hashes to determine contesting transitions. Currently, all transitions have non-zero stateRoots, but this verification adds another layer of security.
Additional Enhancements:
- Reduced Bond Requirements: The upgrade reduces the liveness bond and SGX proofs’ validity and contestation bond by 50%. This lowers the barrier to entry for participants by requiring less upfront capital.
- Optimized Gas Usage: Minor data persistence changes on Ethereum will lead to reduced gas costs for transactions, improving overall network efficiency. These changes will be reflected on the Dune Dashboard for transparent monitoring.
Seeking Feedback and Collaboration:
Taiko welcomes feedback from the community, including proposers, provers, Ethereum researchers, and all users. This input is crucial for further protocol development, especially before the establishment of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
Contributing to Taiko:
Developers interested in contributing to Taiko’s progress can participate on GitHub. Contributors can earn a GitPOAP (a special Proof-of-A-Contribution badge) and gain recognition on the project’s README file. Refer to the contributing manual for getting started.
Stay Updated:
For the complete list of changes and further details, consult the official Taiko BCR protocol version 1.7.0 release notes.
By implementing these changes, Taiko is taking a significant step towards a more efficient, secure, and accessible blockchain platform.
