Testing continues for The Merge – The network Ethereum is about to get a big update titled The Merge. In practice, this update will mark the transition from proof of work to proof of stake. Ropsten, the oldest Ethereum testnet is about to experience this transition.
The Merge arrives on Ropsten
Since its launch in 2015, the developers of the Ethereum network have imagined its transition from proof of work to proof of stake. Finally, after several years of development, this one will take place via an update entitled The Merge.
As a reminder, this aims to connect the consensus layer in proof of stake of the beacon chain, to the execution layer of Ethereum as we know it.
For several months, the developers of Ethereum and various Ethereum clients have been working hard on The Merge. After testing the transition on various dev-nets, then via shadow forks, the developers are preparing to deploy The Merge on the Ropsten testnetthe oldest Ethereum testnet.
Thus, on Monday May 30, developer Tim Beiko announced the deployment of a new beacon chain for Ropsten. Indeed, it was specially launched to be able to test The Merge update on the testnet.
So far, this new beacon chain seems to be behaving as expected. Indeed, all the epochs have so far reached the finality.
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As Tim Beiko pointed out, the rollout of The Merge acts as the first dress rehearsal for the Ethereum network.
This will take place in two step. First, the update Bellatrix will be deployed on the Ropsten Beacon Chain on June 2. Once Bellatrix is deployed, Ethereum clients at the consensus layer will wait for the go-ahead from the runtime layer. This green light will be given by the execution layer when its mining difficulty has reached a given threshold. This threshold is called Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD).
This is where the second stage begins. The consensus layer will then take over the production of blocks. The Merge will be considered complete when the Ropsten Beacon Chain has finalized the first block, as the official announcement explains:
“ Once the execution layer has passed the TTD, the next block will only be produced by a validator in the beacon chain. We consider the merge complete when the beacon chain has finalized this block. Assuming normal network conditions, this should occur 2 epochs, or approximately 13 minutes, after the first post-TTD block is reached! »
The transition is estimated to take place on next june 8assuming normal network conditions.
On the mainnet side, the update The Merge could be deployed by Augustaccording to the latest information shared by Preston Vanloon at the Permisionless conference.
However, like any technology, moving to proof of stake comes with trade-offs. This could lead to a centralization of the network as well as an increase in the necessary trust within the network.
There are only a few months left before The Merge to enjoy Ethereum 2.0 staking returns.Register now on BinanceTHE absolute reference of the crypto ecosystem (affiliate link).