What Is Ethereum Sharding?

Definition of Sharding

The Ethereum network has undergo an upgrade known as Ethereum 2.0, which includes one of the most intricate scaling solutions called sharding. Sharding involves dividing the network into numerous shards, with each shard functioning as an independent state, hosting its own set of smart contracts.

Sharding is a technique used in databases to identify which parts of the database are too much for one computer to handle and which can be done best by using multiple computers. It is similar to partitioning but is used on systems where data doesn't have one central location but can be spread out over many machines based on complexity. Sharding in a blockchain involves dividing the network into smaller blockchains, with nodes within each blockchain operating in a similar fashion. Combined with other techniques like pruning, sharding enables blockchains to handle more transactions at higher speeds while reducing storage requirements. Additionally, it allows nodes to process only transactions relevant to their area of interest, increasing security and avoiding overloading any single node with irrelevant information.

Why Sharding?

To remain relevant, Bitcoin will have to process about 10 million transactions per day, while the Ethereum network is already handling a huge volume of transactions. To cope with this, sharding is being considered as a solution for Ethereum. Sharding involves dividing the blockchain into multiple "shards," each capable of processing a small number of transactions per second.

When exploring blockchain sharding with the Ethereum network, it's important to understand the need for sharding. With Ethereum's continued growth and the rise of DeFi solutions and dApps, the increasing amount of data on the blockchain makes running an Ethereum node both difficult and expensive. This is because, currently, each transaction must be processed across all nodes, limiting scalability. Sharding offers a unique approach to scalability by breaking up the blockchain into different parts, so not all nodes have to participate in processing every transaction on the Ethereum network. It's worth noting that sharding differs from state channels and plasma, which aim to move transactions outside the blockchain network.
The question of whether every node needs to process a transaction to ensure blockchain security is a crucial aspect that the guide to sharding would address. Additionally, understanding sharding in Ethereum and how it solves the scalability trilemma would require a deeper understanding of the compromises involved. Currently, no blockchain network can achieve decentralization, security, and scalability simultaneously, and this trilemma implies that blockchain networks would have to compromise on one of these factors to achieve the other two.

Will sharding Reduce Gas Fees?

Sharding involves splitting the Ethereum network into shard chains to share the network load, aiming to reduce network congestion and increase transaction throughput. The goal is to achieve a transaction throughput of 100,000 per second, with sharding estimated to lower gas fees on the Ethereum network. By utilizing layer-2 innovations, users can experience low gas fees while using the base security layer. Aside from being a layer-2 solution, sharding has been proposed as a crucial approach to attract more users to the Ethereum network. By working harmoniously with layer-2 rollups, sharding can divide the load of large transaction volumes, resulting in faster transactions and reduced network congestion. The plan is to use shard chains to allocate extra data, rather than handle transactions directly. The combination of sharding with rollups is expected to significantly enhance the scalability of the Ethereum network.

Closing Thought

Sharding is an innovative solution for scalability on Ethereum, and its benefits extend beyond just scalability. The concept of sharding was developed by the core developer community of Ethereum, making it unique to the Ethereum blockchain. Shard chains can function as independent chains with smart contract and transaction processing capabilities, offering many advantages for the Ethereum network, including improved decentralization, scalability, and security. To fully understand scalability solutions and the role of sharding in the Ethereum roadmap, it is essential to learn more about how sharding works and its potential benefits.

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