Ethereum developers deploy Dencun upgrade on Holesky testnet

The Dencun upgrade was forked on the Holesky testnet at around 6:35 a.m. ET, as confirmed by Ethereum execution client Nethermind.

The phased approach for implementing the upgrade previously saw Dencun deployed on the Goerli testnet on Jan. 17 and the Sepolia testnet on Jan. 30. A date for the mainnet deployment of Dencun is now expected to be set during the Ethereum All Core Developers call later today — anticipated for early to mid-March.

Introducing proto-danksharding

Dencun combines the Cancun and Deneb upgrades on Ethereum, with Cancun targeting improvements in the execution layer and Deneb focusing on enhancements to the consensus layer.

Proto-danksharding ( EIP-4844 ), a major feature of Dencun, will introduce "blobs," allowing for the temporary storage and access of large amounts of off-chain data by Ethereum nodes to reduce storage demands. It is designed to substantially lower transaction costs for Ethereum dapps — particularly benefiting Layer 2 rollup chains as it facilitates more cost-effective and scalable data processing.

Ethereum’s last major upgrade, Shapella , took place in March 2023 — enabling users and validators to withdraw their staked ether on the network for the first time.