Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency in the world, giving bitcoin a run for its money.
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EthereumThe second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has had one final dress rehearsal ahead of a year-anticipated upgrade billed as one of the most significant events in crypto history.
Since its creation almost a decade ago, ethereum has been mined through a so-called proof-of-work model. It contains complex mathematical equations that multiple machines compete to solve. and he requires a lot of energy. bitcoin Mining follows a similar process.
Ethereum is working to switch to a new model called proof-of-stake to secure the network. Rather than relying on energy-intensive mining, the new method requires users to leverage existing ether cache to validate transactions and mint tokens. It uses much less power and is expected to translate into faster operations.
The final test took place around 9:45 PM ET on Wednesday.
Ansgar Dietrichs, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, said in a tweet When it comes to a dry run like this, the most relevant metric for success is to look at the completion time. He called it “another successful test.”
A research fellow at Galaxy Digital noted that the engagement rate dropped after the test merge, and it looked like there might be a problem with one of the customers – but overall it worked.
“Successful Merge = chain complete” Christine Kim wrote a tweetHe added that we will see similar types of issues with mainnet upgrade, “but the point is, Merge worked.”
timing The upgrade will be discussed at the ethereum core developers meeting on Thursday. The previous guide was It should go into effect in mid-September.
Ethereum’s transition has been pushed back multiple times over the past few years. The core developers tell CNBC that the merger is progressing slowly to allow ample time for research, development and implementation.
Price etherThe Ethereum blockchain-specific token has surged nearly 80% to around $1,875 in the last 24 hours, including a 10% gain. However, this year it still fell by half.
Here’s what happened
One of Ethereum’s testnets, or Goerli (named for a train station in Berlin), simulated the same process that the mainnet or mainnet would run in September.
Testnets allow developers to try new things and make necessary fixes before updates roll out on the main blockchain. Wednesday night’s drill showed that the proof-of-stake verification process significantly reduces the energy required to validate a block of transactions, and also proved that the merger process works.
“Goerli has a bottom-up testnet badge” Josef Je., a developer who worked with the Ethereum Foundation and now runs a permissionless peer-to-peer lending platform called PWN.
He added that at this point it is the most used testnet and the proof-of-stake on Goerli will be almost identical to how things will work on the mainnet.
this Ethereum Foundation’s blog echoes This assessment, Goerli said, is “the closest to the mainnet that can be useful for testing smart contract interactions.”
detecting errors
Tim Beiko, coordinator of Ethereum protocol developers, told CNBC that they usually know “within minutes” whether a test has passed or not. However, they will pay attention to many potential configuration issues in the coming hours and days so they can fix them quickly.
“We want to see the network terminate and have a high engagement rate among validators, and also make sure we don’t encounter any unexpected bugs or issues,” Beiko said.
Beiko said that the easiest metric to track is engagement rate, meaning how many validators are online and fulfilling their duties. If the numbers drop, the developers will need to find out why.
Another important issue is related to transactions. Ethereum processes transactions in batches known as blocks. Beiko said that a clear indication that the test passed well is whether there are real transactions inside the blocks and they are not empty.
The last big check is whether the network is terminated; This means that more than two-thirds of validators are online and agree with the same view of chain history. Beiko says it takes 15 minutes under normal network conditions.
“If those three things look good, there’s a long list of secondary things to check, but at this point things are going well,” Beiko said.
‘More accessible’
Since December 2020, the ethereum community has been testing a proof-of-stake workflow on a chain called beacon that runs alongside the existing proof-of-work chain. Beacon has solved some important problems.
Beiko said the original proposal required validators to have 1,500 ether, currently worth about $2.7 million, in order to use the system. The new proof-of-stake offering lowers the bar, requiring interested users to own only 32 ether, or about $57,600.
“It’s still not an insignificant amount, but it’s a much more accessible system,” Beiko said.
There were other key developments up until Wednesday’s test. In June, ethereum’s longest running testnet, known as Ropsten, successfully combined the proof-of-work execution layer with the proof-of-stake chain. If all goes according to plan, it was the first major dry run of the process the mainnet will go through next month.
Beiko said testing the merge allowed developers to make sure that the software running the ethereum protocol is stable and “everything the network is built on is ready for migration.”
