
Ethereum developer reveals public, multi-client testnet for ETH 2.0 is a “week away”

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ETH 2.0, the long-awaited update for Ethereum to shift from a Proof-of-Work consensus protocol to a Proof-of-Stake system, is cobbling along for a release.
Rumored to go live in July and then confirmed by co-founder Vitalik Buterin to be a baseless theory, ETH 2.0 remains one of the most sought-after developments in the cryptocurrency industry, with both technologists and investors having their reasons for the protocolโs swift launch.
Altona coming next week
On Wednesday, Ethereum developer Danny Ryan posted a blog on the Ethereum Foundationโs website, giving a few insights on current developments and what to look forward to in the next few weeks.
eth2 quick update #12https://t.co/39UIuLIpA2
tl;dr below
— dannyryan (@dannyryan) June 23, 2020
Ryan wrote that ETH 2.0โs first public, multi-client testnet is expected to launch within the โnext seven days.โ He started off saying the update in specifications were not demanding, but the teamโs focus on security, optimization, and to โgenerally harden the clientsโ took a while.
Called Altona, the testnet will initially be rolled out to client teams โ Prysm, Lighthouse, Nimbus, and Teku โ testing nodes on the network. Other client teams, including developer Afri Schoeden and unnamed Ethereum Foundation members, will also feature.ย
Deposit contract addresses, after the initial launch, will be released to allow for open, public participation, noted Ryan. He added Altona is more of a developer-focused testnet than an end-user one, explaining:
โThat is, [allows] client teams to sanity check v0.12 software in a production setting and for eth2 engineers as a whole to work through any bugs that might only arise in a multi-client setting.โ
Once the above is done, a โlarger, community focused testnetโ featuring the of 16,384 validators will be open.ย
Solidity deposit contracts
As part of the updates, Ryan said a newer deposit contract will be rolled out, one written in the Solidity language instead of Vyper as previously. The change is โentirely transparentโ for all existing client and dev tooling.
Reasons for the shift included Vyper throwing up latency issues in security audits and developer tests, with one ConsenSys engineer, Suhabe Bugrara, not recommending the โbytecode as secure as long as it used the Vyper compiler.โ
In addition to the Solidity contract and the launch of Altona, Ryan added:
โWeโre excited to announce a continuation grant for Sigma Primeโs multi-client differential fuzzing effort โ beacon-fuzz. To date, this project has already been a huge success, finding bugs in all of the clients onboarded into the system.โ
ETH 2.0 is a piece of art. Last month, Ethereum co-founder Buterin told Defiantโs Camilla Russo that the 1.0 version, as it exists today, will function as an independent โshardโ on the new network.
"Ethereum as it exists today (eth1) will be it's own separate shard on the eth2 network" – @VitalikButerin #EtherealVirtual
Fireside chat with Vitalik and @CamiRusso happening now!https://t.co/jYWpmWWEyp pic.twitter.com/Vnywj6o6YI
— Ethereal Summit (@EtherealSummit) May 7, 2020
At the time, when asked about the biggest risk in expanding the protocol, Buterin said technical challenges are a more significant concern than โcommunity or politicalโ setbacks.