Ethereum (ETH) has completed one of the last tests before moving to a . went Proof-of-Stake consensus model, called “the merger”, as it will join the Beacon chain. Network network ninth shadow fork (MSF9) went live 15 hours ahead of schedule. Several test forks have occurred on the blockchain. The test involves copying data from the main network to a test environment. No significant failures have been reported since the shadow fork.
A shadow fork is a smaller test fork that focuses on a few minor tweaks. These adjustments must be made when the Ethereum merge occurs on the primary protocol. Developers have spent most of this ninth shadow fork testing improvements and releases used in the most recent Sepolia hard fork. However, the tests ran on a “more intense network,” as revealed by Parithosh, a DevOps engineer at the Ethereum Foundation.
While speaking with CoinDeskParithosh said a spike in the hash rate accelerated things.
The 15 hour difference is attributed to a calculation error in the developer’s estimation tool. It had nothing to do with the code. Parithosh stated,
“The TTD (Terminal Total Difficulty) estimation tool I use is also a local tool, it caches a lot of blocks and tries to average things out, it seems to have a lot of old state because I didn’t clear the old state. However, there were no issues attributed to the TTD’s earlier hit. All nodes were ready except for a few sync nodes. So this is a good sign that even if TTD is hit much earlier than expected, the network is working as expected.”
In addition, the shadow fork also tested Ethereum’s MEV (maximum extractable value) boost feature. The MEV feature allows ETH creators to maximize profits by prioritizing certain trades.
When will the Ethereum merger take place?
Ethereum has one last test scheduled for next month. The third and final amalgamation of the testnet is called Goerli.
The move to PoS is scheduled for mid to late September 2022. The move has faced several delays in the past. In addition, developers decided in June to move the difficulty bomb to August 2022. The “difficulty bomb” in Ethereum refers to an abrupt rise in mining difficulties. It is designed to keep miners from sticking to the proof-of-work algorithm.
Unlike before, it looks like the merge is ready to happen this time. And it goes without saying that it is a really exciting time.