Ethereum 2.0 Developers Set to Run Another Testnet

The developers of Ethereum 2.0 are set to run another testnet. This testnet is named “Zinken” and will take place in the coming days.

Zinken will take place soon as the Spadina testnet by the Ethereum 2.0 developers did not go very smoothly.

Shortcomings of Ethereum 2.0 Spadina testnet

Developers of Ethereum 2.0 have deployed “Spadina,” which was supposed to be the final testnet before the blockchain releases its upgraded mainnet. The idea behind the Spadina testnet was to carry out test deposit and genesis ahead of the upgraded mainnet release.

According to a core Ethereum developer named Danny Ryan, this poses a very challenging aspect involved in the migration. This is because the Genesis block contains certain information that is essential to the network.

Danny Ryan said, “The main objective is to give us all another chance to go through one of the more difficult and risky parts of the process. These are deposits and genesis before we reach mainnet.”

Speaking on the results of the Spadina testnet, Danny Ryan revealed that the testnet suffered long waits to block finality. Also, the testnet received low participation from the clients of Ethereum 2.0. Even the parties involved in running nodes to validate transactions did not fully participate in the testnet.

One of the clients for Ethereum 2.0, Prysmatic Labs, disclosed that the Spadina testnet generated issues that gave a “bad look for this ‘genesis rehearsal.’” However, the issues were not related to a consensus error or a critical bug but rather something due to configuration parameters that can be fixed with a release, Prysmatic Labs revealed.

Ryan noted, “Spadina was heavily weighted toward the Prysm client which had a critical peering issue at genesis. At this point in time there are many robust eth2 clients. If we achieve a better distribution for mainnet, single client issues, like we saw on Spadina, will have a much smaller overall impact on network health.”

Danny Ryan explained that “even though we expect moderately low participation on a short-lived non-incentivized testnet, small errors in the client release process great[ly] exacerbated this problem, resulting in ~1/3 participation in the first few epochs. In response to these issues, we’ll be hosting -at least- one more dress rehearsal — Zinken — prior to genesis.”

Information about Zinken testnet

Concerning the duration for the Zinken testnet, Ryan disclosed it will take place on October 12 at 12:00 UTC.

The reason for the development of Ethereum 2.0 is to enhance the blockchain’s “simplicity, resilience, longevity, security, and decentralization.” Ethereum 2.0 will be rolled out in multiple phases and stages. These stages are expected to run at least until 2021. With its phase-zero launch, Ethereum 2.0 will likely go live later this year or early next year.

Ethereum 2.0 will introduce shard chains to the blockchain. In addition, Ethereum will become a proof-of-stake blockchain with Ethereum 2.0.

Recently, the Ethereum gas fee actually became a choke point for ETH traders. This was due to the fact that the average transaction fee soared to $15.29 on September 2. Also, many traders faced transaction delays and rejections. Disappointingly, the gas fee consumed the entire transaction amount for some traders.