It’s always exciting to hear about new grants being awarded, but what happens after the initial announcement? In this series, we will take a closer look at several projects that are progressing well – or have already reached completion. Keep reading to discover some recent milestones and accomplishments achieved by grantees!
Imapp for EVM Gas Cost Estimator
Gas fees in Ethereum continue to be a hot topic of discussion and enhancement. The average user primarily considers the cost they incur when sending a transaction – whether the gas limit is excessively high, low, or fluctuating. But where do the recommended gas limits originate?
Every smart contract is unique; each encompasses a distinct set of instructions, also known as OPCODEs, that are executed within the EVM. Gas serves to reimburse miners or validators for the computational expense incurred while executing these OPCODEs, meaning the workload their machine has to manage. Computation costs can vary greatly, even among different validators processing the same smart contract. Factors such as OPCODE instructions, programming context, and a node’s hardware and software setup all play a role in determining the actual cost.
The Imapp team is focused on more accurately estimating real-world computation costs, offering crucial data that will aid core developers in discussions about adjusting OPCODE pricing. Addressing all these factors to enhance gas cost estimate precision enables greater efficiency within the gas limit, in addition to:
- Ensuring that developers aiming to optimize for gas costs are also reducing the real computational expenses placed on nodes
- Maintaining network diversity by guaranteeing miners and validators are adequately motivated to secure the network, even on consumer-grade hardware
- Preventing DoS attacks or other exploits that capitalize on discrepancies between estimated and actual costs
- Mitigating issues that could lead to a more unpredictable fee market for users, such as miners favoring certain contracts for inclusion in blocks
Imapp was first awarded a grant in late 2020 for Stage I of the project, which included initial experiments, research, and analysis and concluded earlier this year. A second grant was provided to support Stage II, building upon the work done in Stage I. The strategy for Stage II is organized into three key areas:
- Program generation: creating EVM bytecode programs from which measurements will be obtained
- Instrumentation and measurement: executing the generated programs in a controlled setting and recording the time taken to compute each instruction
- Analysis: conducting statistical analysis and validation of the measurement data
The Gas Cost Estimator Stage I Report provides a comprehensive overview of the project background, findings from Stage I, and plans for Stage II. You can track progress on Github, or connect with the Imapp team on Twitter.
Rock Logic for Stereum
With Ethereum’s shift to Proof of Stake, the network’s security relies on a substantial and decentralized validator network. Eth2 client teams are concentrating on reducing entry barriers such as hardware constraints or technical know-how, while numerous community initiatives are actively working to make staking accessible to anyone who possesses the required 32 ETH. One such initiative is Stereum, which intends to lessen the technical barriers for solo stakers by simplifying the procedure of establishing a validator node.
The concept behind Stereum was initially conceived as prysm-docker-compose. By utilizing Stereum’s docker images (software bundles that combine code and configurations for straightforward setup), solo stakers can install and configure the Prysm eth2 client, server environment, and monitoring services all at once. The team received funding in late 2020, followed by a second grant in 2021, to broaden that functionality to more clients and develop additional tools and resources for stakers.
The Stereum team regularly shares updates on their website and Twitter. You can also follow along and participate on Github, or support their Gitcoin grant!
Are you working on a project that you believe could positively influence Ethereum? Visit our grants page to discover what we look for in the projects we support.
