Participation is low once again, but it doesn't seem to matter.
The latest in a series of Ethereum 2.0 testnets, called Spadina, launched on Tuesday with mixed success.
Spadina
was proposed as a short-lived “dress rehearsal” for the mainnet launch
process, signaling that Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 is getting ever closer. The
network launched on Sept. 29 at 12 P.M. UTC, and was intended to last
for only 72 hours.
Developers said that this is likely to be the last chance for prospective Ether (ETH) stakers to test the deposit and launch tools before the Phase 0 genesis.
From
that perspective, the test appears to have been largely successful. No
major issues were found in the deposit process and the clients handled
blocks successfully.
Like with the initial Medalla testnet launch,
however, participation rates were vastly below expectations. The first
few rounds of validation saw below 34% of the stake joining in the
consensus process, while the target percentage was 80%.
Such low
participation rates suggest that many community members who signed up to
be validators failed to bring their clients online in time for launch.
Developers highlighted during the launch party
that this is a manifestation of the “nothing at stake” problem. Since
testnet Ether has no value, stakers don’t care if their capital gets
slashed while they are offline.
A future mainnet launch with real
ETH is likely to involve more serious and dedicated participants, who
would be greatly penalized for avoiding their obligations.
Danny Ryan, the Eth 2.0 lead coordinator at the Ethereum Foundation, said, “I think we’ve got 90% of what we wanted from this.”
Since
the testnet was specifically targeted at the launch process, low
participation is not a major concern. Nevertheless, some users reported
issues with Teku, one of the more recent clients
to enter the readiness stage. Others highlighted a potential issue with
port forwarding, as most clients seem to not be using Universal Plug
& Play. This technology dynamically opens router ports to let
incoming connections be accepted by the local network, crucial for
peer-to-peer networking. Its absence could create issues for some less
tech-savvy users, who may not know how to manually open network ports.
While
no indications were yet given, the testnets launched so far seem to be
relatively stable and successful. With three months left, these results
appear to bode well for a 2020 Phase 0 launch.
Phase 0 is not going to immediately impact Ethereum’s wider ecosystem,
however. The proof-of-work blockchain will continue operating exactly
as it’s done so far, save for the presence of an Ethereum 2.0 deposit
smart contract. Afri Schoedon, who has been deeply involved with the Eth
2.0 testnets, referred to Phase 0 as “an incentivized test phase,”
suggesting it is primarily a way to test the behavior of stakers in
realistic scenarios.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, was
nevertheless optimistic that the raw beacon chain from Phase 0 could
still be useful for light clients on Ethereum 1.0. He also said that its
launch signals a change in approach focused on shipping and iterating
on features, instead of getting bogged down in less efficient
theoretical work.
“The Eth 2.0 network is just going to gradually
add functionality and become more important for the ecosystem over
time,” he added.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/launch-rehearsal-for-ethereum-2-0-90-successful-despite-participation-issues
