Before its mainnet rollout, Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 needs to stay in a stable multi-client testnet for three months. Now, Ethereum (ETH) is one step closer to its launch.
Today, Prysmatic Labs announced that the Topaz Testnet of the initial stage of Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 is live. This network resembles the long-awaited ETH2 Beacon Chain much closely than ever before.
Testnet Environment, Mainnet Configurations
April 18, 2020 is a Genesis day for Ethereum (ETH) 2.0, the Proof-of-Stake (POS) version of Ethereum. According to the creators from Prysmatic Labs, Topaz Testnet represents the full Phase 0 mainnet configuration of Ethereum 2.0, which is based on the latest ETH2 Phase 0 specs v0.11.1.
According to Preston van Loon, Prysmatic Labs Co-Founder, a huge amount of testnet deposits have been received from external sources. This is to help with launching the release. Unlike the previous Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 testnet Sapphire, with its small 3.2 ETH deposits, Topaz requires full 32 ETH deposits staked in the Goerli Testnet environment of Ethereum (ETH) 1.0.
At press time, the performance of the Topaz Testnet has been indexed by Etherscan, the most popular Ethereum network explorer. Currently, there are now 16,730 active validators.
Next Stop: Multi-Client Testnet
According to Ethereum’s developer Terence Tsao, the next crucial milestone for Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 is the launch of multi-client testnet. This launch was previously discussed as one of the possible starting points of the countdown for the mainnet rollout of the PoS-based Ethereum (ETH).
As previously reported by U.Today, Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation and an Ethereum 2.0 contributor, highlighted that three months of reliable operation for a multi-client testnet are a perfect indicator for ETH2 readiness.