The event marked the end of the public testing phase for the network, which is expected to transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model.
Developer Tim Beiko noted that the network would eventually merge with Beacon Chain, the blockchain at the core of Eth 2.0. Kiln will result in a reduction in computing power and energy consumption. Originally slated to launch in Q1 of 2022, the launch is expected later this year.
Gas fees have been as low as ten gwei per unit over the past week. A transaction on Ethereum’s mainchain can be as cheap as 50 cents in total. The drop in gas fees has been attributed to a drop in trading volume and interest in non-fungible tokens.
Despite the high number of transactions on the network, gas fees have not fallen as much as the transactions. Meanwhile, users are still waiting for the network to implement a proof-of-stake method as they are optimistic it will lead to low transaction fees. The latest ‘hard fork’ to the blockchain has also introduced new opportunities to the network, such as ETH burning.
The testing period, however, did not go entirely as planned. Kiln Explorer stated that there are several errors in building the contract. Beiko added on Twitter that a client was not consistently producing blocks even though there was stability. Furthermore, two-thirds of validators are finalizing correctly. Marius, another Ethereum developer, pointed out that Prysm was proposing bad blocks during the transition on Kiln.
Prysm is a Go programming language that works seamlessly with Ethereum Consensus. According to Van Der Wijden, one of the blocks had the incorrect base fee per gas value. According to the Ethereum Foundation’s official roadmap, the Merge upgrade will be available by Q2 2022. However, there will be a few missing features.
Kiln is planned to be the “final merging testnet produced before current public testnets are updated,” according to the group. It also encouraged developers, node operators, infrastructure providers, and stakers to test their ideas on Kiln before attempting to deploy The Merge on public testnets.
The achievement comes after three months of testing on Kiln’s predecessor, the Kintsugi merging testnet, which developed “a set of reliable and resilient protocol specifications” for The Merge.
According to Superphiz, the launch of The Merge is expected to take place in June of this year. He cited various factors influencing the event, such as the hard fork and the difficulty bomb. However, he added, “I’d rather steadfastly predict June and be wrong, than lower the community expectation and by right. Let’s keep pushing for June.”
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
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