Ethereum’s proof-of-stake upgrade, known as the Merge, moves on to the next stage. The team has decided to speed up the Ropsten testnet’s Merge with the execution layer of the Beacon Chain. It will be a simulation of the Proof-of-Stake Merge with the Ethereum Proof-of-Work mainnet in the next few months.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the market, has faced several criticisms in the last couple of years. The rapid onset of new affordable blockchain networks raised questions about Ethereum’s gas fees and the cost to sustain projects in the ecosystem. Other aspects like Ethereum’s transaction speed also came under scrutiny in recent times.
Although there are robust layer-2 networks like Polygon developed to address these issues, users have long been waiting for a reply from Ethereum itself. Now, after a long time, the network seems much closer to a solution than ever. Ethereum will convert to a proof-of-stake network in the next few months following the Merge.
The team is burning their midnight oil to speed up the testnet Merge to keep on with the schedule. The Merge was initiated on Wednesday after the initial announcement surfaced on June 3. It is a complex process that combines the codes of the two networks into one. It will show how the codes will perform with the mainnet when they merge by the end of this year.
Several client software teams have participated in the testnet Merge, including Lighthouse, Lodestar, Prysm, Teku, Besu, Erigon, go-Ethereum, and Nethermind. The test was measured by a metric known as the real terminal difficulty. Before the Merge, clients and node operators were asked to configure their values manually.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated in a live stream that the network initially held up very well without glitches for several hours. However, he added that their team is looking for long-term issues regarding MEVs, staking, and DOS protection that might occur after weeks.
Ethereum understands the difficulties involved in pulling off such a great feat. So they are taking their time to test their code with multiple tests. The Merge with the Ropsten testnet is only the first of a series of tests. After this successful Merge, the team will likely move on to other testnets like Goeril, Seoplia, Rinkeby, and Kovan before the mainnet launch.
The entire crypto space is looking forward to this upgrade as it will significantly benefit the projects, developers, and users of one of the largest ecosystems in the market. Once the upgrade pulls through, the current mining operations on Ethereum will be taken over by users who have staked the required 32 ETH.
As of yet, the PoS Beacon Chain runs parallel to the Ethereum PoW network. The testnet has its own set of validators to gather adequate data to get ready for the main event.
