Blockchain Bites: G20's CBDC Rules, Ethereum 2.0's Tests, Blockchain's $1.7T Boost

Every day until the event the team behind Blockchain Bites will dive into an aspect of Ethereum that excites or confuses us.

Ethereum 101.With final preparations for the launch of Ethereum 2.0 soon to be underway, CoinDesk's Christine Kim spoke with lead developer at Prysmatic Labs Raul Jordan and project lead at DAppNode Eduardo Antuña Díez about what's left to do and what comes next.

Ethereum startups building hardware and tooling for users to participate in the Ethereum 2.0 launch are also working on adding last-minute features to their products.

Before Ethereum 2.0 goes live, Jordan and Díez both noted a new contract will be created on the current Ethereum blockchain to receive deposits of 32 ETH. Only once this contract accumulates a minimum of 524,288 ETH, which is worth roughly $181 million at time of writing, will the new Ethereum blockchain officially kick-start at midnight UTC the following day.

On July 20, 2016, when the upgrade to restore user funds was executed, the Ethereum blockchain split in two.

Since the split, the Ethereum network has hard forked seven additional times, though none of these subsequent upgrades have reached the same level of controversy as "The DAO Fork" of 2016.Part 2: Those Darned Cats.The first dapp on Ethereum to gain real user traction was a collectibles game known as CryptoKitties.

The influx of users and a high volume of transactions from this one viral dapp clogged the Ethereum blockchain to unprecedented levels.

According to ICObench, over 80% of all ICOs rely on the Ethereum blockchain to create their tokens and issue them to investors.

Despite the growth in the number of alternative dapp platforms, Ethereum remains the most popular general-purpose blockchain both in terms of number of users and dapps, as shown in the chart above.

This schedule at which this bomb slows block production has been delayed three times over the course of the last five years as developers re-worked plans for launching Ethereum 2.0.While there is no telling what new technologies and standards of blockchain practice will be innovated as a result of Ethereum 2.0, looking back at the first five years of the network's development does give some indication.