As Ethereum’s Beacon Chain reached its fourth anniversary, researcher Justin Drake reflected on its achievements and its role as the foundation of the blockchain network.

The Beacon Chain was launched on Dec. 1, 2020, as part of the network’s transition to Ethereum 2.0 . The introduction of the Beacon Chain marked the blockchain’s shift toward a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus, allowing users to stake their Ether ( ETH ) for rewards. 

Ethereum Beacon Chain ‘far from perfect’ but brings massive opportunity image 0

Source: Justin Drake

Drake noted that the Beacon Chain began modestly, with only 0.5 ETH staked on its first day. Still, he described its evolution into “the strongest foundation blockchains have ever seen.”

Ethereum researcher celebrates Beacon Chain’s fourth year

The researcher highlighted key milestones achieved by the network, including having 10,000 consensus participants, $125 billion in economic security, finality through layer-1 slashing, 51% attack recovery via layer-0 slashing and 100% uptime. Drake wrote: 

“No other PoW or PoS chain comes close—the gap is immense. This is the power of long-term thinking, of taking the long and hard road.”

Drake added that there is a “tremendous opportunity” to cement Ethereum as the settlement layer for the internet of value. Despite these achievements, Drake acknowledged that the Beacon Chain is “far from perfect.” 

He emphasized the need for improvements, including better censorship resistance, enhanced MEV handling, smaller staking deposits, improved delegation, faster finality, smarter token issuance and post-quantum security. 

He urged community members to get involved, saying that the future is bright. “I invite you to get involved. Ethereum may just be humanity’s most ambitious and exciting decentralized computing project,” Drake wrote. 

Related: ETH 3.0: Sharding may return to scale Ethereum to millions of TPS

Justin Drake proposes “Beam Chain”

At the Devcon event in Bangkok, Thailand, Drake introduced a new concept: the “Beam Chain,” a proposed replacement for the Beacon Chain .

In his keynote address, Drake described the Beam Chain as a step toward Ethereum’s “final design.” He explained that while the Beacon Chain laid the groundwork, it has become “kind of old,” and new developments have emerged since its deployment.

Drake believes transitioning to the Beam Chain would help Ethereum evolve further, aligning with the community’s long-term goals for the blockchain network.

Magazine: Make Ethereum feel like Ethereum again: Based rollups explained