Good news for Ethereum users! The long-awaited update is finally coming to fruition. This is one of the biggest updates since Ethereum decided to move to “proof of stake”: The Merge. On October 14, Ethereum developers announced the launch of the testnet called Shandong.
Test network for Shanghai upgrade
Ethereum has come a long way lately. This crypto platform has not only switched to a proof-of-concept consensus mechanism. More recently, she also impressively secured the launch of The Merge. To overcome it, Ethereum is bringing the Shandong testnet online.
Shandong is the first pre-Shanghai testnet. This is an experimental test network aimed at improving, validating and finalizing new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs).
Thanks to this testnet, Ethereum developers will now benefit from a test environment. Shadong will allow them to work on Shanghai, the next network update. The advantage of this testnet is that it is especially accessible to front-end developers as well as Dapps developers.
What could the testnet bring to Ethereum users?
Yes, the Shandong testnet is now live. But the questions we really ask ourselves are: what impact and what changes could this testnet have on users?
As mentioned above, the Shadong testnet aims to optimize EIPs. These refer to proposals submitted by Ethereum developers. They are supposed to create new standards and add functionality to the network.
Concretely, the Shandong testnet belongs to two separate EIPs:
Special attention is given to the EIP-4895, an upgrade that many users have been eagerly waiting for. In particular, it allows them to withdraw staked ETH.
As a reminder, more than 13.4 million ETH have been locked to the network since the introduction of the staking feature on the networks beacon chain. A value equal to 11% of the total circulating supply of ETH, or equal to $18 billion.
Regarding the EIP-4844 (proto-DanksSharding proposal), it is an Ethereum improvement proposal. It proposes a simple concept: to introduce a new type of transaction to the network. But above all, its main objective is to reduce gas costs on the network.
Finally online, Ethereum users have high expectations for the Shanghai update. Precisely, the Shandong testnet is the first towards this upgrade. This is an experimental testnet that will activate a series of selected EIPs in Shanghai for the first customer tests.
Two EIPs are highly anticipated with the Shanghai upgrade: the EIP-4895 and the EIP-4844. The former will unlock staked ETH and the latter will help reduce gas fees. Of course, the Shandong testnet will not only focus on these two EIPs. Some others will also be tested.
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My name is Ariela and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago. But it’s a universe I’m very interested in. And the topics covered in the platform give me the opportunity to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also have a great passion for music and reading (and animals!
