Ethereum is getting closer to deploying a new technology that would allow the network to evolve, according to its founder.

"It seems like the first part of the first phase is something like being already done," Vitalik Buterin said at a meeting with the developers.

The technology, called sharding, attempts to divide the data from the ethereal chain into more manageable parts. Emphasizing an initial specification published on Github, Buterin said:

"In theory, this is a good specification of what a minimum of sharding will look like."

Ethereum is under pressure to keep pace with the growing popularity of the platform, resulting in slower transaction times and higher processing fees. Congestion has already led some chip-based projects to build on top of other blockchains such as Stellar.

Buterin said that the next phase of the four-step scaling proposal will be completed in "a month and a bit", adding that development work will likely flow on stateless customers, a type of ethereum software that does not need to deal with the full history of the platform.

"Then, from there, we will try to expose it to a test of operation, a kind of test network," said the founder of the Ethereum.

At the meeting, Buterin also reflected on Casper, the new ethericeum consensus protocol that is currently being tested.

As detailed by CoinDesk, the test network derailed due to problems with the software that it deploys. However, Buterin said that despite the hiccups, the core of the project is healthy, or as he puts it: "Casper Casper's appearance … is totally successful."

Still, with the code that still needs to be adapted to be used on different ethereum software clients, he acknowledged:

"For now, it's a bit of a background."

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