- Reminder: THE Gray Glacier Improvement is intended for blocking 15,050,000expected June 29, 2022
- THE Furnace Melting Test Networklaunched earlier this year, will be shut down shortly after the Ethereum mainnet transitions to proof-of-stake.
- Ropsten, Ethereum’s oldest proof-of-work testnet, has moved to proof-of-stake. It will be closed in the fourth quarter of 2022.
- Rinkeby, a Geth-based proof-of-authority testnet, will not be transition to proof of stake and will be stopped in the second/third quarter of 2023.
- Users and developers are encouraged to migrate to Goerli or Sepolia as soon as possible to test Ethereum in a post-merger context. After the merger, Rinkeby will not be be a suitable testing environment for the Ethereum mainnet. Unplanned mainnet upgrades can no longer be applied to outdated testnets.
Ethereum has many testnets where users and developers can test things before interacting with the mainnet. These are effectively copies of the Ethereum mainnet on which Ether and other tokens have no value. They allow developers of applications, tools, infrastructure, and protocols to deploy changes to their products (or the protocol itself!) in a low-stakes environment, before moving to the mainnet.
That said, because testnets are complete blockchains, their history and state evolve over time. This ends up making them more difficult to run and maintain. For this reason, some testnets are periodically removed. This happened last year with the Pyrmont Beacon Chain Test Network and more recently with the Kovan Execution Layer Testnet.
As The Merge approaches, client developers have decided to deprecate more testnets in order to focus their efforts on properly maintaining two of them over the long term: Goerli and Sepolia.
The Kiln, Rinkeby and Ropsten testnets are now deprecated.
Testnet Shutdown Timeline
Even though these three testnets are now considered deprecated, users and developers still have time to plan their migration before they shut down completely. Kiln, Ropsten and Rinkeby will be closed according to the schedule below.
Kiln: After Mainnet Merge
The Kiln testnet, launched in 2022 to provide a post-merge testing environment, will be shut down shortly after the Ethereum mainnet transitions to proof-of-stake, expected in the second half of 2022.
Developers should not use Kiln as a durable testing environment. This is expected to be the first testnet to be shut down after the merge onto the Ethereum mainnet.
Ropsten: Q4 2022
The Ropsten testnet, which traveled The Fusion on June 8, 2022will be closed in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Developers currently using Ropsten as their testing/testing environment should migrate to Goerli or Sepolia.
Rinkeby: Q2/Q3 2023
The Rinkeby testnet not browse The Merge. It is replaced by Sepolia and will be closed approximately a year after Sepolia transitions to proof of stake, around the second and third quarters of 2023.
Once the Ethereum mainnet moves to proof-of-stake, Rinkeby will no longer be an accurate testing environment for the mainnet. A list of changes introduced by The Merge that app developers should be aware of is available here. Again, note that these changes not be deployed to Rinkeby.
Developers currently using Rinkeby as a testing/staging environment should prioritize migrating to Goerli or Sepolia, and projects that are affected by Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake should aim to do so as soon as possible. possible.
Görli & Sepolia
The two test networks that client developers will maintain after the merger are Goerli and Sepolia.
The Goerli network will merge with the Prater Beacon Chain testnet. A new Beacon Chain has been created to transition Sepolia to proof-of-stake.
Goerli’s Beacon Chain will remain open to users wishing to run a testnet validator. Sepolia will work with a set of authorized validators, similar to how some testnets work today. Players wishing to test protocol upgrades before deploying them on the mainnet should therefore use Goerli.
Goerli also has a strong community and plenty of existing infrastructure that supports it. Its state is closest to the main network, which can be useful for testing smart contract interactions.
Sepolia, on the other hand, is relatively new, which means its state and history are quite small. This means that the network is quick to synchronize and running a node on it requires less storage. This is useful for users who want to quickly start a node and interact directly with the network.
Summary
In short, Kiln, Ropsten and Rinkeby are now obsolete. While Kiln and Ropsten have already moved to proof-of-stake, Rinkeby will do so not run this upgrade.
After The Merge happens on the mainnet, Kiln will end. Then, by the end of the year, Ropsten will be too. Approximately one year after Sepolia transitions to Proof of Stake, around Q2/3 2023, Rinkeby will be deactivated.
Two test networks, Goerli and Sepolia, will be maintained in the future. Goerli is recommended for players wanting to test protocol upgrades and developers wanting to interact with large existing state. Sepolia is recommended for users and developers who want a more lightweight channel to sync and interact with.
To everyone who has helped operate, maintain or support these networks, thank you!
Header photo by Karl Hédin.
