Vitalik Buterin Introduces ‘The Purge’ Upgrade to Simplify Ethereum

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled plans for the network’s upcoming upgrade, dubbed “The Purge.” The upgrade aims to reduce data storage demands and streamline Ethereum’s protocol.

In a blog post, Buterin outlined the goal of The Purge, stating that the upgrade aims to remove unnecessary data and outdated features, thereby improving Ethereum’s efficiency while preserving the blockchain’s permanence. Additionally, the changes could improve overall network performance and lower operating costs.

Addressing Storage Requirements Challenges

The Purge upgrade aims to tackle the growing challenges related to storage requirements.

Currently, running a fully-synced Ethereum node requires over 1 terabyte (TB) storage, mainly because of historical data. The storage is primarily used for information on past blocks, transactions, and receipts, much of which is several years old. As a result, the size of a node keeps increasing by hundreds of gigabytes each year.

In order to address the challenge, The Purge intends to reduce client storage needs by eliminating the requirement for every node to permanently store all historical data.

However, Buterin noted that even if clients no longer need to keep the entire history, their storage requirements will still rise by about 50 GB each year. This is because the state, which includes account balances, contract codes, and other essential data, continues to grow.

“State is much harder to ‘expire’ than history because the EVM is fundamentally designed around the assumption that once a state object is created, it will always be there and can be read by any transaction at any time,” Buterin explained. 

To address this, he proposed the concept of “partial state expiry,” where less frequently accessed state data can expire and be restored using cryptographic proofs when needed.

The Verge Upgrade

The announcement of The Purge follows the recent introduction of another upgrade, “The Verge.” The upgrade aims to enable nodes to run on smaller devices like phones and smartwatches while enhancing security and accessibility.

The Verge upgrade introduces a “stateless verification” method that could lower hardware requirements, enabling nodes to verify blockchain blocks without needing to store vast amounts of data.  

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Buterin highlighted a new update to Optimism’s SuperchainERC20 protocol. The update introduces a cross-chain interface that enhances collaboration among Ethereum infrastructure entities and strengthens the overall ecosystem.