Largest Ethereum 2.0 Testnet Gets More Than 22,000 Validators

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Tolu Ajiboye
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As the Ethereum community anticipates Ethereum 2.0, a public testnet has already recorded impressive participation. The testnet has already pulled in more than 22,000 validators.

Ethereum 2.0 Testnet from Prysmatic Labs

The test in question is the one from Prysmatic Labs, a team of software engineers basically working on the future of Ethereum. It launched its testnet on Thursday, September 9 and quickly dwarfed all other single-client tests within a week.

By Thursday last week, former Google software engineer and Prysmatic Labs developer Preston Van Loon, announced the development.

Just saw nearly 100% participation from over 22k active validators on the worlds first boneless ETH2 testnet. https://t.co/TFw3MBBOhc

— prestonvanloon.eth (@preston_vanloon) January 17, 2020

This is the largest testnet among all the others currently available. A report from TrustNodes further quotes van Loon giving more information about the validators.

“These are validating keys. It’s probably between 5 to 10 individual operators. Maybe more, but it’s hard to tell who controls keys and who’s just an observer.”

More on the Testnet

Already, Prysmatic Labs is somewhat boastful about its testnet. To prove this, the firm has invited hackers who feel they have what it takes, to try to breach the testnet. The eventual move into Ethereum 2.0 would require tests like as the integrity of the network has to be confirmed.

The number of participants is notably quite low. While the real move into ETH 2.0 might still be a while, the low number might be important. It could mean, on some level, that people are not very excited about the switch. It’s important, however, to note that this is still the very early stage. Some time from now, there’s still a very good chance that perception could change.

Staking on Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum 2.0 will see a complete shift from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism currently being used to proof-of-stake (PoS). A report from Bitcoinist suggests that if the network moves to a new staking model, nearly 10 million ETH will eventually be locked up. Estimates from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin were used to calculate the 10 million figure.

Furthermore, annualized interest rates might also hit 6% in direct response to a rise in annualized inflation. The report also states that staking rewards will not be fixed, and will increase or reduce based on the ETH volume staked. Doing this should help keep the network from being under unnecessary pressure by whales.

There is a slight possibility that Ethereum 2.0 will be launched at the end of July 2020.

Muir Glacier Upgrade

Earlier this month, the Ethereum network successfully completed its second hard fork – called Muir Glacier – within thirty days. Problems noticed surrounding the network’s difficulty bomb created a need for the hard fork.

The Muir Glacier happened at 8:30 UTC at block 9,200,000 on January 2. At execution, the difficulty block was postponed by four million blocks.

Author: Tolu Ajiboye

Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge. When he's not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.

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