Big Event for Crypto

In a historic moment for the Ethereum community, Goerli—one of the largest and most active Ethereum test networks—underwent the “merge” on Wednesday evening. The actual merge is a years-in-the-making upgrade for Ethereum that will shift the network from a proof-of-work consensus model to proof-of-stake, a process that is poised to make the blockchain more efficient and consume far less energy. To prepare for this massive change, developers have run many tests, but this latest test differs from the rest: The Goerli testnet merge is the last—and most significant—dry run for Ethereum before the merge happens on the so-called mainnet used by everyone. In other words, it’s a big deal. Developers watching the process on Zoom hailed the sight of pandas shown in code—a signal the Goerli testnet merge worked. That said, it’ll take time for the Ethereum developers to confirm if everything went smoothly or if the testnet merge had any unforeseen issues. “We won’t really know until late tonight or tomorrow how successful the [Goerli testnet] merge actually was,” pseudonymous developer Superphiz said during a Zoom call livestream for the Goerli testnet merge. “This is not going to tell us success or failure” just yet. But now, at last, with the Goerli testnet merge done, Ethereum developers are in much better shape in determining the likelihood of success for the mainnet upgrade.