The Ethereum blockchain has recently completed a step towards the long-awaited upgrade that will improve the platform by moving to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. The Ropsten testnet successfully transitioned to PoS in what is called a “dress rehearsal” for the Ethereum blockchain.
Since the network uses the electricity-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) mining model, the Ethereum platform is often criticized along with Bitcoin (BTC) for its environmental impact. With the move to PoS, power issues will be fixed and the platform will be more scalable, being able to process more transactions per second.
After the Ropsten transition, the Goerli and Sepolia testnets are scheduled to transition to PoS before the mainnet transition, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The Rinkeby and Kovan testnets can be maintained by the community, but will no longer be monitored by the client developers.
Community members celebrated the milestone. Musician Jonathan Mann celebrated the merger by playing a Ropsten-themed song, singing lyrics like “no more power surges” and “ETH to the moon”.
It’s the first Ropsten Testnet Merge song! 100% improvised.
The *second* improvised Ropsten Testnet Merge song will be dropping tomorrow. It’s 17 minutes long.
bid on the NFT!https://t.co/qAnorDZ8Iy pic.twitter.com/NH7DOkGHBM
— Jonathan Mann (@songadaymann) June 8, 2022
Robert Nickson, founder of Metav3rse, described the event as a “major milestone” and a “historic” event. He believes that this is one of the most important events in the history of cryptocurrencies, since the integration of the mainnet in the PoS consensus also depends on the success of the test network.
Parithosh Jayanthi, an Ethereum developer, I congratulate to the people who worked on the merger. Although Jayanthi mentioned that there were still some bugs, he noted that fixes are on the way and that the team will monitor the chain for the next few weeks.
The development of Ethereum’s efforts to transition to PoS came just in time as New York began to clamp down on PoW mining. Last week, the New York Senate passed a bill that seeks to implement a mining ban for PoW systems.
Although some might expect the price of Ether (ETH) to be bullish after the merger, the news did not have a huge impact on the price of the digital asset. Despite the success of the testnet integration, traders continue to adjust their ETH price targets to $1,400.
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