The final stretch for the long-awaited The Merge update. Ropsten, the Ethereum blockchain’s (ETH) reference test network has officially moved from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). According to the developers, the migration was completed without major difficulties, but a battery of tests still needs to be performed in order to optimize the mainnet update.
Ropsten officially migrates to Proof of Stake (PoS)
The long-awaited move from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus on the Ethereum blockchain today marks an important milestone in its journey, and more broadly in the cryptocurrency world.
Ropsten, Ethereum’s oldest test network, has officially migrated to proof-of-stake consensus. Although various compatibility tests are still to be implemented, the network upgrade went smoothly without any major issues, and is one of the last tests before Ethereum officially migrates to the same model.
The Ropsten network just merged!
One of the last testnets until we merge on the Ethereum mainnethttps://t.co/3lvlUfcAT4 pic.twitter.com/knd1IBlD8A
– Bitfly (@etherchain_org) June 8, 2022
In an interview with Fortune magazine, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin confirms that this is a historic step:
“We hope this will be a good demonstration of how far we’ve come. If all goes well, it means we are only one small step away from getting Merge onto the main network. “
Tim Beiko, one of Ethereum’s lead developers, also celebrated the news from his Twitter account, saying that transactions were running smoothly, aside from a few misplaced block proposals.
We have some transactions included in post-merge Ropsten blocks h/t @Butta_eth https://t.co/siB78qq1gG pic.twitter.com/PlPlojdN3E
– Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) June 8, 2022
Various batteries of tests are still to be carried out, in particular on the Kiln and Rinkeby testnets, then finally on Goerli and Sepolia. Note that Ropsten is considered the closest network to Ethereum in terms of structure, so its migration marks a very encouraging sign, the 2 networks being extremely similar.
Vitalik Buterin said that if these test sets go well, Ethereum’s migration to proof of stake could be considered in August.
What’s at stake in this long-awaited migration?
Currently, the Ethereum blockchain operates through proof-of-work (PoW) consensus, which involves mining blocks in the same way as the Bitcoin network (BTC).
However, this is a method that has many drawbacks, not least in terms of energy consumption and scalability (the ability of the network to adapt to transaction flows).
The move to proof-of-stake therefore comes with its own set of advantages, including perhaps somewhat reduced transaction fees, which are almost always high, to the point of being recognised today as a major brake on wider adoption.
Ethereum’s migration to proof-of-stake involves working with the Beacon chain, which already operates on PoS and acts as a “consensus layer”. In other words, the migration requires a merger of the 2 networks, and all of these tests serve to measure how to optimise their common assimilation.
The 2 networks already work together, but they remain quite distinct. The Beacon chain has its own validators and already produces blocks, but in parallel to Ethereum.
Moreover, a stop of the PoW necessarily implies a stop of the block mining. This is why miners who have previously deposited 32 ETH on the dedicated deposit contract will automatically switch to the role of validator in order to produce the new blocks.
We also notice that tools like Etherscan have adapted accordingly. For example, on the transaction pages, the miner status has been replaced by “fee recipient”.
All in all, we should have news very soon about The Merge update, which has already been postponed time and time again, but which seems to be ready for the final stretch.
