Ethereum just ran a final dress rehearsal ahead of a years awaited upgrade
Ethereum testnet Goerli (named after a train station in Berlin btw) successfully moved from proof-of-authority to proof-of-stake on August 10 at ~9:45 pm ET. #ETH immediately surged by 14% following the transition.
It followed two other testnets - Ropsten and Sepolia - ditching PoW over the past two months.
๐ค Why testnets are needed
They allow developers to try out new things and make necessary tweaks before the updates roll out across the mainnet. Goerli simulated a process identical to what the mainnet will execute in September. Actually, it's the final opportunity for users to ensure that their PoS validators are configured correctly.
๐ฌ Main parameters tested
โซ๏ธ Participation rate (how many validators are online and doing their duties)
โซ๏ธ Transaction rate (if the blocks have actual transactions in them and arenโt empty)
โซ๏ธ Finalizing rate (meaning that more than 2/3 of validators are online and agree to the same view of the chain history)
๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ Goerli was not without hiccup
Ethereum developer Marius van der Wijden noted that there was some โconfusion on the network because two different terminal blocks and lots of non-updated nodesโ that slowed the process down slightly but stated that things were looking โquite goodโ anyway.
๐
Tentative dates for the Merge
The Merge is split into two upgrades: Bellatrix and Paris. Bellatrix would land on September 6. The date for Paris is September 15. The timing of the Merge on mainnet canโt be predicted exactly because it depends on the level of difficulty of mining a block, which varies depending on how much mining power is dedicated to the network.
๐ Besides improving energy efficiency, many other upgrades will be implemented with the Merge.
References (Example)
[1] <ETHERIUM>, '<title>' (online, <year>) <link>.
[2] BULB, 'Write to Earn. Read to Earn' (online, 2022) <https://www.bulbapp.io/>