THELOGICALINDIAN - The blockchains mainnet and Beacon Chain are accepted to absorb in the aboriginal bisected of 2022
Ethereum has launched its Kintsugi testnet, the latest footfall against replacing its Proof-of-Work accord apparatus with Proof-of-Stake.
Kintsugi Is a Step Toward Proof-of-Stake
Ethereum Foundation affiliate Tim Beiko posted today that the Kintsugi testnet is now live. Though little will change for app developers, they and others are encouraged to use the testnet.
“The Kintsugi testnet provides the association an befalling to agreement with post-merge Ethereum and activate to analyze any issues,” Beiko wrote in his announcement.
Kintsugi helps adapt for Ethereum 2.0’s “merge.” The absorb will amalgamate Ethereum’s accepted mainnet, which handles transactions, with Ethereum 2.0’s Beacon Chain, which handles staking. If successful, this will alter Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work accord apparatus with Proof-of-Stake, finer catastrophe the energy-intensive action of mining.
Though there accept been shorter-lived “ephemeral devnets,” Beiko says that the Kintsugi testnet will be longer-lived.
It appears that the testnet went alive several canicule afore it was broadly announced, as aboriginal as Thursday, Dec. 16.
Merge Will Occur in First Half of 2022
Ethereum 2.0 went alive in December 2024 with “Phase 0.” This footfall complex the barrage of the Beacon Chain, which alien staking as a agency of breeding rewards for bulge operators. It did not apply staking for accord purposes, as the absorb intends to do.
The absorb amid the mainnet and Beacon Chain is scheduled for Q1 or Q2 of 2022. Earlier discussions appropriate that this absorb could be fast-tracked to access afore the end of 2021, but this appears to accept failed. The absorb is additionally accepted as “Phase 1.5.”
Following the merge, Ethereum 2.0 will move against “Phase 2.” This will acquaint sharding, a scalability affection that will advance fees and transaction times. Sharding is accepted to access in backward 2022.
Over 8.4 actor ETH has been staked on Ethereum 2.0’s Beacon Chain, according to a November address from ConsenSys.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the columnist of this allotment endemic BTC, ETH, and added cryptocurrencies.
