The Ethereum Foundation has announced that the “Merge” successfully took place on the Kiln testnet. This is the final public testnet before the transition to proof-of-stake later this year.
Ethereum’s “Merge” has successfully taken place on the Kiln testnet, according to blockchain data on the testnet. The event took place on March 15, with Ethereum’s developers lauding the landmark occasion. With this, the beacon chain has merged with the Kiln testnet.
The Kiln testnet is the final public testnet before the transition to proof-of-stake, which should occur later this year. This is a major milestone for the Ethereum network, which is preparing to go through with some of its biggest changes since its inception.
The Ethereum Foundation has also asked stakeholders to perform tests on Kiln to make sure that there is a smooth transition. The developers have said that they wanted to give the community a chance to test their products through the merge. An official Ethereum Foundation post reads,
“Application & tooling developers, node operators, infrastructure providers and stakers are strongly encouraged to test on Kiln to ensure a smooth transition on existing public testnets.”
The previous testnet, Kintsugi, will be deprecated in the weeks to come. The Merge is also planned to take place on existing proof-of-work testnets, such as Goerli and Ropsten, before eventually hitting the mainnet.
There haven’t been any major issues reported so far. One Ethereum core developer pointed out a minor issue with one client combination, which is currently being investigated.
Ethereum 2.0 to have transformative effect
The ETH 2.0 transition has been going on for a long time, taking place in a phased manner. Several major changes have taken place along the way, not the least of which is the launch of the beacon chain, which took place in 2020.
Analysts and investors have high hopes for Ethereum once the transition has been completed. ETH issuance is expected to drop by 90% and force the asset into a deflationary status. ETH staking rewards will go to over 10%, and over millions of ETH will be locked up for months.
Perhaps more importantly, with so much discussion surrounding the energy consumption of PoW networks, Ethereum’s energy usage will drop by 99.9%. The end result of all of this is that the ETH price will be the recipient of a boost as buying pressure increases.