Ethereum 2.0 developers have successfully launched the Zinken testnet and tested the creation of the ETH 2.0 genesis block. Zinken launched after a failed deployment of the Spadina testnet.
According to the developer of Ethereum 2.0. Danny Ryan, today’s launch of the Zinken testnet went smoothly. Zinken is the latest planned “dress rehearsal” for ETH 2.0 testing to create a Genesis Block – the first block in a new chain before the Proof-of-Stake network goes live. Zinken follows the previous Spadina testnet, which launched at the end of September, but ran into problems due to low staking participation and minor customer bugs.
Following today’s successful launch, Ryan said, “the customer development teams are now completing audits and preparing for the mainnet launch.” As with Spadina, the goal of the Zinken testnet is to create a genesis block. To launch the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain on the main network, 16,000 validators and 500,000 ETH are required on the deposit. These targets have been lowered for the Spadina and Zinken testnets for practical reasons.
Together with the Medalla testnet, which aims to replicate a fully functioning Ethereum blockchain, Zinken represents the efforts of developers to prepare the blockchain for the transition to a proof of stake (PoS) algorithm. After the upgrade, the throughput of the blockchain will grow to 100,000 transactions per second.
As of September 28, Medalla’s testnet has attracted 60,000 validators who have blocked 2 million test ETHs for staking. These numbers have since grown to 75,000 validators and 2.4 million test ETH, Ryan said. Developers are already creating tools for the future web. For example, Prysmatic Labs today announced a web interface for its Prysm Eth2 client.
While the Zinken testnet will run for a few more days, it has already completed its task, as Ryan said:
“The creation of the genesis block was successful. This was our main goal. ”
As a reminder, the developers plan to launch Ethereum 2.0 on the mainnet next month.
