The Ropsten test network (testnet) completes its merger with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake consensus chain. The proof-of-work execution layer was merged with the proof-of-stake consensus and the main Ethereum will undergo further processes to complete the transition. The transition from PoW to PoS might get complete by end of 2022.
To understand well, the Beacon chain is a PoS coordination chain containing validators to validate the new blocks working parallelly with the PoW execution chain. The current merge took place by combining their (PoW and PoS) codes into one. Upon the complete analysis of the Ropsten testnet the two chains will merge resulting in a smoother running of Ethereum as a PoS blockchain.
While the Ropsten test meger is still at a crucial point as the clients and developers are using Ethereum nodes for various functions. The team expects that the functionality of the Ethereum nodes performs well without any discrepancy in the coming future. Some of the popular software teams participated in the merger, including Teku, Besu, Erigon, go-Ethereum (geth), Nethermind, Lighthouse, and Lodestar.
Also read: Cardano to support Ethereum dApps via ‘Milkomeda C1’ solution
To know more about the merger, read https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/
‘Shadow Fork’
Earlier, the developers and coders created a ‘shadow fork’ to run experiments for the Ethereum PoS consensus mechanism. A number of validators were split while the team ensured that no glitch takes place on the mainnet. The experiment included a series of upgraded techniques and codes while the rest of the Ethereum blockchain remained unaffected. The pure objective of the shadow fork events by the developers was to explore that both the validators from PoS and PoW can co-exist and work together on the mainnet if the data is merged.
During the successful event of the shadow fork, the validator nodes were able to produce 26,176 average blocks at an average time of 13 seconds.
Post to complete shift from PoW to PoS, the validators will have to stake 32 ETH to participate in adding new blocks to the blockchain. At present, the validators consume a certain amount of energy to discover new blocks and earn ETH and a portion of transaction fees in the form of tips on the proof-of-work mechanism.
Till now Ropsten merge is doing just fine and the outcomes will be studied by the developers to proceed with the actual merger on the mainnet.
Also read: Top 3 Ethereum layer-2 scalability solutions in 2021
