Beacon Chain is the network that introduces staking/locking of digital currency with the help of network nodes to the Ethereum blockchain. In fact, Beacon Chain is the core of the Ethereum 2.0 chain. As the whitepaper suggests, Ethereum 2.0 is in three phases. Beacon Chain is phase zero, which is a validator address.

The Beacon chain manages a consensus algorithm, i.e., proof-of-stake (POS) protocol, for itself and all the shard chains. Shards are the independent smaller portions of the split blockchain network. Shard chains are subset nodes that validate and process transactions with virtual miners and validators assigned to the shards. Thus, the Beacon Chain aims to conduct and coordinate the expanded network of shards and stakers.

The Beacon Chain is a foundational component for the secure, sustainable, and scalable Ethereum network. The ecosystem intends to introduce staking and become a validator, and then a miner, to secure the chain through PoS mechanisms. Moreover, the ecosystems seek to set up shard chains on PoS to increase the network's capacity and improve transaction speed.

The primary responsibilities that Beacon Chain aims to attain are:

Beacon ETH is a phase of the Ethereum 2.0 version; therefore, the team behind Beacon is the same as Ethereum.