Ethereum Update: Proof of Stake testnet launches

In a significant step towards Ethereum 2.0, developers were able to keep to their target of a March Proof of Stake (PoS) testnet launch. The Nimbus team announced the PoS Beacon chain single client testnet. Nimbus is an ethereum 2.0 implementation client, similar to Geth or other eth 1.0 node clients, and is maintained by Status, one of Ethereum’s biggest Dapps.

Nimbus announced:

“We have a Nimbus-to-Nimbus testnet running, not just in a simulation on a single machine, but with a remote bootstrap node and people connecting to it – even from outside of Status!

This is a major milestone in the development of Ethereum 2.0, and while stability issues persist and bugs will happen, the fact that we now have a Beacon chain synchronizing across nodes that aren’t necessarily local to each other is a big deal.

We’ve named it testnet0 – this is the first in a series of testnets that will follow, each adding new features, scale, and stability. During the first weeks, testnet0 will be frequently restarted to incorporate what we learn from feedback and monitoring.

This iteration is based on spec version 0.5.1 and uses 400 validators to secure the network, of which 50 are reserved for brave explorers – when you join us, you’ll get one randomly assigned to you.”

This is the first step in ethereum’s biggest upgrade since the launch of their network. The upgrade will happen in multiple phases:

• Phase 0 is the Beacon chain.
• Phase 1 is a storage sharding.
• Phase 2 will considerably increase Ethereum’s capacity.