Ropsten Testnet successfully merges!
White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #86
Transitioning to Proof-of-Stake
Last week, on the 8th of July, Ropsten testnet – Ethereum’s longest-running Proof-of-Work testnet – successfully merged its proof-of-work execution layer with the Beacon Chain Proof-of-Stake consensus chain. The main purpose of the Ropsten testnet was to test upgrades prior to launching them on the mainnet without putting funds at risk. Though the Ropsten testnet merge was successful overall, it is important to note that there were a few clients that experienced timeouts during block production and failed to validate transactions. Tim Beiko – one of the leaders responsible for protocol upgrades on Ethereum – confirmed that fixes for the issue are already in the works.
Why this matters
Executing trial runs on testnets provides developers to make necessary adjustments to new things they want to try out before rolling them out on the main blockchain.
When Ethereum finally transitions to a Proof-of-Stake consensus, it is set to reduce its energy consumption by up to 99.95%. The merge will also reduce ETH issuance to validators by 90%, this paired with the transaction fee burn mechanism introduced in EIP-1559 is projected to make Ethereum deflationary in nature. It is also important to note that the merge will not change gas fees and transaction timing as it does not change the throughput of the chain.
What’s next
The Ropsten testnet merge simulated what will happen between Ethereum and the Beacon Chain once the merge occurs and Ethereum transitions to a Proof-of-Stake consensus. Prior to the mainnet merging, Ethereum is due for two more testnet merges, namely Sepolia and Goerli, allowing for additional opportunities to troubleshoot and work toward smoother implementation of the merge on the mainnet.
After numerous delays, the latest information indicates that “The Merge” could occur in August this year. Merging the Ethereum mainnet is a crucial phase of the “Ethereum 2.0” process. Vitalik Buterin – Ethereum co-founder – stated that Ethereum 2.0 progress will be at 60% once the merge is fully complete. The Ethereum 2.0 roadmap plans for sharding chains to be implemented after the merge, designed to scale Ethereum, which Vitalik described as “even more important than Proof-of-Stake”.
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