Eth2 devs call on to community to help test out the merge
As the transition to Eth2 edges closer, Ethereum developers have launched a program for non-technical users and technical users alike to help test the upcoming Beacon Chain merge.
Ethereum developers have put out a call to the community to help test the long-awaited merge between the Ethereum mainnet and the proof-of-stake (PoS) based Beacon Chain.
The merge is a major milestone of the transition to Ethereum 2.0 as it will see the Ethereum network become a PoS blockchain, decreasing its energy consumption by 99%.
On Monday, Ethereum developer Marius van der Wijden announced a new program to get the community involved in merge testing that caters to three tiers: non-technical users, developers with limited experience in blockchain, and highly technical and experienced blockchain developers.
Testing is the best way to contribute to #Ethereum. We are starting a new program to get the community involved in testing the merge.
If you want to do your part in getting Ethereum to Proof of Stake as soon as possible and save the environment, #dm me pic.twitter.com/WIxpRBIDPB
— MariusVanDerWijden (@vdWijden) November 29, 2021
For non-technical users, the self-guided program provides them with tasks, such as setting up consensus layer clients, reporting failures and sending transactions.
Technical users can select objectives, such as running their own validators, testing and deploying contracts, and setting up their own testnets, while highly technical users can review the specifications, propose invalid blocks, and split the network by voting on invalid blocks.
The program calls on all participants to document as much of their work as possible and share it online under the #TestingTheMerge hashtag on Twitter. Wijden has also pointed the community toward the Ethereum R&D Discord channel to maintain communication throughout the testing program.
#TestingTheMerge https://t.co/CYoRX0vfGN
— smallfish (@S_Rank_lvl) November 29, 2021
“The program is not compensated, but if you find a critical bug (consensus issue/panic), I’ll buy you a beverage of your choice at the next DevCon!” Wijden teased in the program outline.
Related: Even with Ethereum 2.0 underway, L2 scaling is still key to DeFi’s future
According to the Eth2 page on Ethereum.org, the Beacon Chain merge will have been officially completed by Q1 or Q2 of 2022. The merge is seen as the final chapter in the blockchain’s evolution to PoS consensus; however, there is still more work to do before the transition to Eth2 and sharding is complete.
The final piece of the puzzle is the shard chains upgrade slated for late 2022, which will see the network’s load spread across 64 new chains to help the network scale its capabilities in a decentralized manner, ramp up transactions per second, and bring down gas fees in the process.
