If the planned trial update on the Ropsten public testnet proceeds as planned later today, Ethereum’s Merge—the blockchain’s much-anticipated move from its current proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm—will be one step closer.
Ropsten is Ethereum’s oldest testnet, having been launched in 2016. It enables for blockchain development testing prior to deployment on the mainnet. It is similar to the mainnet, just as other testnets are, with the exception that no “actual” funds are at risk if any technical issues arise.
On May 18, Ethereum core developer Terence Tsao reported that the configuration for Ropsten’s Beacon Chain—a PoS network that runs alongside Ethereum’s mainnet—had been merged and that client releases should be coming soon.
📣 Ropsten Merge Update 📣
— Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth 🐼 (@TimBeiko) June 3, 2022
As mentioned in the Ropsten Merge Announcement, the terminal total difficulty (TTD) at which The Merge happens on Ropsten must be overridden by node operators & stakers.
The correct TTD value is 50000000000000000 👀https://t.co/aPAWNJfDYh
Following that, on May 30, another Ethereum developer, Tim Beiko, announced the launch of a new beacon chain, and on June 2, the Bellatrix upgrade—one of the two essential prerequisites for the Ropsten testnet Merge—was triggered.
The developers also had to choose the “Terminal Total Difficulty” (TTD)—a pre-determined difficulty value at which the Ropsten Merge occurs—which they accomplished the next day, setting it to 50 quadrillion.
The high amount was decided “because of the low PoW hash rate on testnets, and the risk of The Merge occurring before the network was ready with the Bellatrix update,” Beiko explained.
