LibraryConsensus2020Design paperCorpus record
Serenity Phase 0
EIP 2982. Danny Ryan , Vitalik Buterin.
EIP 2982, Serenity Phase 0. Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
Status in the source: Final. A reading of the public specification, not a copy of it and not a certification.
Serenity Phase 0 is worth reading for the rule it actually adds: Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 6
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- EIP 2982https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2982
- The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The rule
Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
Claim 02 · Paper model
What was already failing
A consensus change that is only described in a client does not tell an outside verifier what must be true.
Claim 03 · Paper model
What the number does not mean
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
Claim 04 · Paper model
What a builder should be able to point at
An implementation either constrains FFG, LMD, GHOST or it is a different design.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The rule
Observation
What the study says
Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
Model
What has to hold
You are implementing EIP 2982 at the status the text itself states: Final.
Falsifier
What would retire it
What does Serenity Phase 0 treat as decided, and what can still be reorged?
02 What was already failing
03 What the number does not mean
Observation
What the study says
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
Model
What has to hold
You are implementing EIP 2982 at the status the text itself states: Final.
04 What a builder should be able to point at
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Open EIP 2982 and read the status line before the examples.
- 02Write down the rule in one sentence. A fair version of that sentence is: Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
- 03Name the object that changes: FFG, LMD, GHOST.
- 04Ask what an old client, an old contract, or an offline counterparty does. If the document is silent, the silence is part of the design.
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
What the text is allowed to settle
The cut
Ethereum Improvement Proposal 2982 can settle the shape of Serenity Phase 0. It cannot settle whether a later client, a later fork, or a later wallet still does this.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
What this page will not pretend
The cut
There is no benchmark, no adoption number, and no claim that the mechanism is safe outside the assumptions written in the source.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
05 Register
What has to be true
Model · Not re-measured
You are implementing EIP 2982 at the status the text itself states: Final.
Model · Not re-measured
The object that has to change is FFG, LMD, GHOST. A neighbouring document with a similar name is not this one.
Cryptography · Not re-measured
Parameter choices in one release are not the proof.
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it. Later documents can narrow, replace, or ignore this one. Cite the number you mean.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
A consensus change that is only described in a client does not tell an outside verifier what must be true.
What the design proposes
- Phase 0 of Serenity (eth2), a multi-phased upgrade to the consensus mechanism for Ethereum mainnet.
- In Phase 0, the existing PoW chain and mechanics are entirely unaffected, while a PoS chain -- the beacon chain -- is built in parallel to serve as the core of the upgraded consensus.
- In subsequent phases, the beacon chain is enhanced to support and secure the consensus of a number of parallel shard chains, ultimately incorporating current Ethereum mainnet as one of those shards.
How the mechanism is specified
- Taken from the specification, the next constraint is: In Phase 0, the existing PoW chain and mechanics are entirely unaffected, while a PoS chain -- the beacon chain -- is built in parallel to serve as the core of the upgraded consensus.
- Locate FFG, LMD, GHOST in EIP 2982 and apply it to one transaction or call.
- Then check the failure the class of rule always has: a node that did not upgrade, a reverted call, a replayed signature, or a peer that does not speak the message.
What this page does not treat as proven
Why the desk still reads it
Use EIP 2982 when a pitch says 'Serenity Phase 0' without saying whether the rule is consensus, policy, or an interface. The number is the citation. The pitch is not.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- EIP 2982
- The public text titled Serenity Phase 0.
- Final
- The document's own label for how finished the text is. It is not a market fact.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.