During the recent Ethereum AMA on Reddit, the discord between Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and the lead developer Justin Drake would have worried a majority of the hopeful Ethereum 2.0. BE During the AMA, Drake stated that he would like a list of things to be checked before any phase 0 launch could be for an imminent ETH 2.0 shift.
He believed that the network had not yet conducted a stress test and a “attack net” incentive, which would prefer to operate for a period of 2-3 months with at least 3 or more clients.
Drake suggested that the launch date could be postponed until January 2021, but Vitalik asked for a difference in the “level of readiness” of the network. It was clear that important figures in the organization might not see eye to eye on key developments.
Now, according to recent rumors on Twitter, it has been suggested that the testing phase for Ethereum 2.0 could be approaching its final phase, as some ETH developers have revealed.
According to a recent post released by Danny Ryan, Coordinator for Ethereum 2.0 Foundations, Medalla, the new multi-client testnet is supposedly the final test before the mainnet launch for Eth 2.0. It has been stated that the launch of the Medalla Testnet will not take place before 4 August at 13:00 UTC.
Medalla is the closest thing proposed for the functionality of Ethereum 2.0 mainnet, and therefore, before the launch date is set, two key conditions must be met.
First, “minimum genesis time;” a manual set of parameters that estimate the earliest timeframe for the start of the testnet. The second important condition to be met is the number of ETH 2.0 validators. The Medalla testnet will only run if at least 16,384 of 32 ETH have been assigned to the task 48 hours prior to the minimum genesis time.
Major Clients for the Ethereum 2.0 testnet
During all the recent testnet, major clients involved in the development are Prysmatic Labs(Prysm), PegaSys(Teku), Status(Nimbus), and Sigma Prime Lighthouse.
These clients alongside Chainsafe’s Loadstar will be able to join Medalla during its launch. For Medalla, Afri Schoedon, Ethereum 2.0 testnet coordinator, explained,
“Medalla means “medal” and can be seen as a reference to the Olympic testnet that was used to prepare the ETH1 launch. It emphasizes the importance of the network at this stage towards the ETH2 launch. It can also be seen as a hint that Medalla validators will receive a proof of attendance “medal” on the Ethereum network for participation.”
At the time of writing, it seems everything is on the line for Medalla’s success, which may lead to the launch of ETH 2.0 phase 0 mainnet. After months of anticipation, Ethereum is possibly making its way into a new chapter for the future of its blockchain.