No more power surge: Community celebrates as Ropsten testnet merge goes live

The Ethereum blockchain recently completed a step toward the long-awaited upgrade that will improve the platform by switching to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. The Ropsten testnet successfully transitioned to PoS in what is dubbed a “dress rehearsal” for the Ethereum blockchain. 

Since the network uses the proof-of-work (PoW) mining model which consumes a lot of electricity, the Ethereum platform is often criticized along with Bitcoin (BTC) over its environmental impact. With the shift to PoS, the energy issues will be addressed and the platform will become more scalable, being able to process more transactions per second.

After Ropsten’s transition, testnets Goerli and Sepolia are scheduled to transition to PoS prior to the mainnet transition according to the Ethereum Foundation. Testnets Rinkeby and Kovan can be maintained by the community,  but they will not be monitored by the client developers anymore.

Community members rejoiced at the milestone. Musician Jonathan Mann celebrated the merge by rocking out a Ropsten-merge-themed song, singing lyrics like “no more power surge” and “ETH to the moon.”

https://twitter.com/songadaymann/status/1534614721650884608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Roberto Nickson, founder of Metav3rse, described the event as a “huge milestone” and a “historic” event. He believes that this is one of the most important events in the history of crypto as the mainnet integration to PoS depends on the testnet’s success as well. 

Parithosh Jayanthi, an Ethereum developer congratulated the people that worked on the merge. While Jayanthi mentioned that there were still some bugs, he noted that fixes are on the way and that the team will monitor the chain over the coming weeks.

Related: DeFi contagion? Analysts warn of ‘Staked Ether’ de-pegging from Ethereum by 50%

The development for Ethereum’s efforts to transition to PoS came just in time as New York started to clamp down on PoW mining. Last week, the New York State Senate passed a bill that aims to implement a mining ban for PoW systems.

While some may expect the Ether (ETH) price to go bullish after the merge, the news did not have large impact on the digital asset’s price. Despite the successful testnet integration, traders still adjusted their ETH price targets to $1,400 per ETH.