Ropsten launched its Beacon chain today

Core Ethereum developer Tim Beiko announced that the new Beacon chain for Ropsten has been launched today and it is ready for the ‘first dress rehearsal’ of the Merge to adopt the PoS mechanism. The final stage, known as the Merge, is expected around June 8th.

Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon attests that the successful mainnet merge with the Beacon chain would be a ‘huge milestone’ towards the Merge.

Beiko said that there are still a few things developers and node runners have to prepare leading up to the Ropsten Merge, including that upgrades must be launched by the Beacon chain and the mining difficulty (TTD) of the PoW side must be determined. 

The upgrade will take place before the TTD is ‘chosen by June 2/3,’ added Beiko. 

The Ropsten testnet was created in 2016 and one of the testing processes for Ethereum users, it emulates aspects of the Ethereum mainnet including the use of a valueless form of ETH to execute transactions and the coding environment separate from the mainnent. The emulation allows developers to conduct tests before upgrading the mainnet. 

The beacon chain scanner shows Ropsten’s first few blocks being produced on May 30, 2022, 15:00 UTC. Its first validated block is marked with the graffiti ‘Lodestar-v0.37.0-dev.2883368c84’.

The launch of Ropsten’s Beacon chain ensues five days after a seven-block reorganization on Ethereum’s Beacon chain, an error attributed to bugs and obsolete client software. 

Photo: ethereum.org