Ethereum Launches Kintsugi Testnet As the Next Step to Transition to Ethereum 2.0
Ethereum has launched its Kintsugi testnet, the latest development in ETH's work plan. It's a step towards replacing its Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism with Proof of stake. Kintsugi is a Japanese word that symbolizes restoring broken pottery with gold, highlighting the breaks/cracks without hiding the damages, evoking a sense of transparency, making them a part of the object's history.
On Dec 20th, Tim Beiko (coordinator of the ETH core developers) announced the Kintsugi testnet on the Ethereum Foundation blog. ETH developers designed the new version to make the blockchain's transactions faster, cheaper, and less energy-intensive.
The post read, "Although client development and UX continue to be refined, we encourage the community to start using Kintsugi to familiarize themselves with Ethereum in a post-merge context." According to Beiko's recommendation, most projects should begin testing and prototyping on Kintsugi to discover any possible issues soon. It further said application developers would observe no significant changes along with execution layers. Users can check out the landing page for Kintsugi here.The testnet allows the community to experiment with post-merge Ethereum and pinpoint any issues. Once issues have been fixed and feedback has been incorporated into the client software with the specifications, a final series of tenets will be launched.This helps prepare for Ethereum 2.0's "merge."
Developers have put remarkable efforts into this current shift to Ethereum 2.0. The 'Phase 0' went live last year in December, and it involved the launch of the beacon chain, which introduced staking to generate rewards for node operators.
The mainnet and beacon chain merge is scheduled for Q1/Q2 of 2022. The merge, if successful, will replace the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism with Proof of stake, which will terminate the energy-intensive mining process, reducing costs significantly. The merge is also known as 'Phase 1.5.' Earlier talks indicated that this merger could be expedited to arrive before the end of 2021, but those plans seem to have died.
"Phase 2", the next step after this merge will offer 'sharding', a scalability feature that will enhance fees incurred and the transaction times taken. However, it is not expected anywhere before the end of 2022. According to a report published by ConsenSys in November, over 8.4 million ETH has been staked on Ethereum 2.0's beacon chain.
Ether (ETH) has been under pressure recently amid heavy sell-off triggered over the last week. The ETH price has been hovering around $4,000 levels currently.