Of Data Availability & Danksharding

web3 with a16z crypto

with @lera_banda @danboneh @rhhackett

This episode introduces concepts behind -- and applications of -- data availability sampling (DAS), a key piece of the puzzle that could help blockchains like Ethereum achieve full scaling. A low-overhead technique that uses random sampling of data to ensure that all necessary blockchain data has been made available to nodes without straining the network, DAS features heavily in a series of planned Ethereum upgrades called "Danksharding" [named to reference Ethereum Foundation researcher Dankrad Feist]. The next Danksharding milestone for Ethereum is an upgrade called EIP-4844, known as "Protodanksharding" [also named to reference Ethereum researcher Protolambda, now at OP Labs] -- which is planned for later this year.

Our expert guests include:

• Valeria Nikolaenko, a16z crypto research partner
• Dan Boneh, Stanford cryptography professor and a16z crypto senior research advisor

...who discuss their recent piece on data availability sampling and Danksharding -- including a proposal they put forward to the improve current plans for upgrading Ethereum -- with Robert Hackett (a16z crypto features editor and head of special projects), based on a live conversation that took place recently on Twitter Spaces.

links to pieces/ topics referenced in this episode:

• on data availability sampling and danksharding, an overview and proposal / Valeria Nikolaenko & Dan Boneh
• on Proto-Danksharding, a technical analysis / grizzly-answer-991
• EIP-4844: the specification of ProtoDankSharding / Ethereum Foundation
• Proto-Danksharding FAQ / Vitalik Buterin
• Danksharding workshop video / Devcon (Oct 2022)
• 2D data availability with Kate commitments discussion on commitments' expansion / Ethereum Research Forum
• a note on data availability and erasure coding / Github

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