Ethereum 2.0 progress significantly, testnet on its way

Ethereum 2.0 is developing rapidly and all the major clients are now linked to each other via Local Area Network (LAN). Adrian Manning, the co-founder of Lighthouse’s Sigma Prime, stated that various eth 2.0 node clients written in different programming languages can now “talk.” He said that Status’ Nimbus, PegaSy’s Artemis, Trinity, and ChainSafe’s Lodestar are all interoperable with each other. On asking about the when a testnet might be expected, Mamy Ratsimbazafy of Status said:

“We didn’t expect 3-4 clients being able to communicate so early in the interop locking so we didn’t plan for that.” 

Jacek Sieka, another eth 2.0 dev from the Nimbus team said: 

“We’ll release one when a sufficient number of clients are comfortable with all parts of the spec.”

On Thursday, an eth 2.0 implementers call will be held with the agenda to be published shortly. While the Interop Meeting is still going on, they may discuss the process to get the testnet running. Regarding the development made in the meeting, Ratsimbazafy says: 

“We’re still in the middle of it and really the best time would be during the Eth2 implementers’ call.”

The launch has a target date of January. Once out, anyone with at least 32 ETH can take part in the staking protocol. People with less than 32 ETH can pool their resources together. Companies like Coinbase are offering stake pooling services.