Ropsten, Ethereum’s oldest testnet, is about to migrate to proof of stake as one of the final tests before the main Ethereum blockchain merges. While the actual time of the Ropsten integration will vary based on a few factors, it is expected to take place on Wednesday, according to an official post from Ethereum.
How Will It Occur?
The planned merge will only occur if Ropsten’s proof-of-work version has passed predetermined criteria known as full terminal difficulty. This is set to an extremely high level of 50 quadrillions to prevent any malicious entity from interfering with the merge by accumulating hashrate artificially (which happened the first time this test was scheduled).
Because Ropsten is still a testnet, its hashrates are low. Therefore, merge node operators will need to manually configure their clients to circumnavigate the Ropsten Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) for their execution layer and consensus player clients. This is scheduled to be completed by the end of today.
Ropsten Marks a Significant Development to Ethereum
The Ropsten merging is one of several critical processes in ensuring that the client software used to run Ethereum nodes runs correctly and without issues throughout the event.
The main goal of the testnet merger is to put the Ethereum CoreNet merger into practice by the end of the year. Ethereum core engineers conducted merging tests in the past, including a shadow fork on the leading network and another on a testnet called Kiln.
This event will incorporate the code from the two Ropsten chains: one proof of work and the other a chain of proof of stake tags. This is the same procedure that the Ethereum mainnet will use eventually.
More Transitions Expected
Following the Ropsten transformation, two more testnets (Goerli and Sepolia) will be converted to proof-of-stake before directing attention to the mainnet. According to Eth’s official website, the Ether community can maintain and improve other testnets like Rinkeby and Kovan individually, as client developers will not have their concentration on them.
The Ropsten Merge is different from prior Ethereum upgrades in two major fields. To begin, node operators must simultaneously update both their consensus and execution layer clients, rather than just one of the two. Second, the upgrade occurs in two stages: the first when a slot height on the Beacon Chain is reached and the second when a Total Difficulty value is reached on the execution layer.
ETH Price Action
The current price of Ethereum is $1,778.79, with a 24-hour trading volume of $20,074,572,055.
In the last week, the ETH Price Action Candlestick Set price has dropped by 10.80 percent. Over the previous 24 hours, the price has fallen by 5.33 percent. The price of ETH has historically beaten many traditional assets such as major stock and bond indices over the long run.
Despite the difficulty of predicting volatile cryptos, experts and enthusiasts are hopeful that the ETH price will increase by the end of 2022. Coinpedia predicts that it may hit either $6,500 or $7,500 price levels.
Source: https://crypto.news/eth-developers-are-set-to-initiate-the-ropsten-merge-test-within-the-next-two-days/