What is the beacon chain?
The beacon chain is the core infrastructure of Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus layer. In simple terms, it is the "command center" of Ethereum's new consensus mechanism—where all validators' staking activities, consensus decisions, and network coordination take place.
In December 2020, the beacon chain was officially launched, marking the first step for Ethereum towards transitioning to PoS (Proof of Stake). This is the most critical part of the major upgrades in the Ethereum 2.0 series, laying the foundation for the sustainable development of the entire ecosystem.
How does the beacon chain change Ethereum?
Before The Merge event, the beacon chain operated as an independent consensus layer in parallel. After the merge, Ethereum's consensus mechanism completely switched from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) — a groundbreaking transformation.
In the new system, validators (and