- Ethereum developers performed the merger on the Sepolia testnet.
- A large part of the merger that will take place at the end of the year was brought forward.
- Three open testnets will be used to test the merger.
Renowned Ethereum public testnet Sepolia started its merger this Wednesday. With this step, the developers of Ethereum anticipated a large part of the merger in the main blockchain that will take place later this year.
The so-called “merger” means that Sepolia’s proof-of-work chain (execution layer) merged with its proof-of-stake beacon chain (consensus layer) around 2 PM UTC. In order to do this, the operators of the testnet nodes had to update all client software at the same time.
This test was done to see if the validator nodes of both Sepolia chains could cooperate. The Ethereum mainnet merger is planned to follow a similar course of action. It is expected to take place before the end of this year, although no specific date has been specified.
Merging a public testnet serves as practice for the mainnet. Additionally, the exercise will likely help client companies identify and resolve software bugs before the blockchain system is released.
According to the Ethereum developers, three open testnets will be used to test the merger. Ropsten and Sepolia are the latest examples. Currently, the Goerli testnet is the only one to be integrated in the coming weeks.
