There are at least a few weeks left until the Ethereum 2.0 deposit agreement, according to Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan.
Speaking Thursday on the Bankless podcast, Ryan said the deposit agreement won’t go into effect until he gets a thumbs up on an audit of a critical cryptographic library, BLST, performed by cryptographic audit firm NCC Group.
“This library is essential for creating keys and signing messages. Critical, in the early stages, [means] that if you use this library, they must be protected; if you use it to generate your wallets, it must have good randomness; and if you are signing your deposits that have a signature associated with it, it needs to be corrected, “said Ryan.” Since this library is critical, and since, if there is a fundamental mistake in this library, we could make a mess in terms of genesis deposits, this is the blocker, “he said.
Leading Ethereum 2.0 researchers now expect the depository contract – a one-way Ethereum smart contract that contains the staked ether (ETH) needed to secure the new Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network – to be released early to mid-November. pending audit results, Ryan said.
Ryan said researchers are still looking to 2020 for the Beacon chain genesis block.
The new date comes after multiple customer teams who spoke with CoinDesk reported expectations for an October release of the deposit agreement.