Ethereum Proof of Stake Merge Goes Live on Ropsten Testnet 

On the Ropsten testnet — Ethereum’s longest running testnet — the long-awaited “merger” with the Beacon chain was implemented on Wednesday. The update brings Ethereum one step closer to the long-awaited transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.

• Ropsten allows development and testing before changes are made to the main Ethereum network. The “merger” will be the most significant upgrade Ethereum has ever undergone.
• The testnet is identical to the Ethereum mainnet but does not put real funds at risk.
• Terence Cao, the first developer of the Ethereum core announced that the configuration of the Ropsten beacon network was merged on 18 May. Customer releases began on May 30, with a full transition to the testnet scheduled for today.
• Bellatrix Refresh then successfully launched on June 2 as the last update needed before the full merger of Ropsten.
• As of 4:09 pm EST on Wednesday, Ropsten’s operational chain has reached a ending total above 50 quadrillion and has stopped importing blocks on that segment of the chain.
• “Total terminal complexity” refers to a predetermined complexity value at which the merging should occur.
• After that, the Proof-of-Stake validators started creating blocks in a continuous chain built from the previous Proof-of-Work history.
• Proof-of-Stake is expected to make Ethereum a more energy efficient blockchain, as well as significantly lower transaction fees. So far, high transaction fees have resulted in over a million Ethereum transactions failing each month.