Glossary
EIP-4788 (Beacon Block Root in EVM)
An Ethereum upgrade (Dencun) that exposes the parent beacon block root inside the EVM via a system contract — letting L1 contracts trust-minimize CL data.
EIP-4788 makes Ethereum's consensus-layer (CL) state readable
from the execution layer (EL). Every block's header now contains
the parent beacon block root, and a system contract at
0x000F3df6D732807Ef1319fB7B8bB8522d0Beac02 records the most
recent roots.
The change enables EL smart contracts to verify CL data — validator information, attestations, slashings — without trusting an oracle. Restaking protocols (EigenLayer), LST and LRT issuers, and slashing-aware applications use this primitive to base trust on the consensus layer directly.