Figure 4.4: Ethereum architecture

Every node that comprises the transaction copy and the history of the smart

contract in the network ensures the presence of current information and

state. The nodes in the network come together to an agreement to handle the

change as a certain action is performed by the user. There are miners

involved in the transaction who make sure to prevent and avoid any kind of

malicious activity by carrying out the actual computation using the EVM

and a bytecode language that is stack-based.

Feature of Ethereum

A smart contract account is the feature of Ethereum that distinguishes it

from the rest of the cryptocurrencies and enables the user in carrying out the

transactions j ust like the external users as also customizing a specific

program for managing and administering a different set of functions. To

make sure that every node is not involved in the data verification and

transaction processing, the feature of sharding is included by Ethereum.

Being divided into shards, the part of the state to be stored by the node and

the processing speed are improved upon. Between these shards developing

a seamless communication mechanism becomes necessary as the shards are

involved in the processing of specific parts of the entire state.

Assisting in the process of load balancing and helping in decreasing the

overall costs of the transactions involved in off-chain computation is a

feature of Ethereum wherein all the computations and calculations are

carried out irrespective of the complexity levels that allow a layer apart

from the blockchain. It also makes sure that only particular nodes are

involved in the complex computations in place of all of the nodes. For

verifying the outcomes and solutions, there are verifiers engaged.

Taking ahead from PoW to PoS

In terms of transaction speed and scalability, there are certain drawbacks

associated with the proof of work mechanism that is associated with both