Mainnet countdown three months? Final testnet launched on time, Vitalik: Ethereum will continue Satoshi Nakamoto's vision

The Ethereum development team successfully launched the final multi-client testnet "Medalla" for Ethereum 2.0 Beacon chain on August 4th. As a result, the likelihood of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's target for the 2.0 launch on November 2nd has significantly increased.

"Medalla" Released as Scheduled

The multi-client test network "Medalla" was officially launched at 21:00 Taiwan time last night. Unlike previous testnets aimed at developers, Medalla is a community-oriented test network. According to the blockchain browser beaconcha.in, the current number of validating nodes has reached 20,469, with a total of 655,006 test Ether staked.

The Ethereum 2.0 project lead, Danny Ryan, stated on the official Ethereum Blog:

The release of Medalla marks a significant milestone for Ethereum 2.0 development. If the testnet continues to run smoothly, the next step will be the mainnet launch. This represents the hard work of countless engineers, researchers, and community members over the years, and we hope you are equally excited.

Earlier, Ethereum 2.0 project lead Danny Ryan had indicated on July 23 that "Medalla" would go live on August 4, and indeed it was released punctually as planned. Given the importance of Medalla's success for the Ethereum 2.0 mainnet, the Ethereum Foundation also live-streamed the testnet launch process on YouTube.

Ethereum to Continue Satoshi Nakamoto's Vision

Compared to current public chains in the crypto market, the Ethereum ecosystem is vast, making the transition to 2.0 fraught with difficulties. Vitalik had already realized this issue back in 2014:

Ethereum is seen as a more general version of Mastercoin. As we realize the potential of Ethereum, we are quietly developing DApps. However, Ethereum 2.0 is full of uncertainties. We have said before, "If we do not solve the scalability and consensus mechanism issues, Ethereum will disappear in these attempts and experiments."

Note: Mastercoin is the predecessor of the Omni protocol, a token issuance platform from 2013.

Fast forward six years, the 2.0 process, as predicted by Vitalik, is filled with thorns, with the transition to PoS staking mechanism continuously delayed. In an AMA in July, developers had differing opinions from Vitalik, with Ethereum researcher Justin Drake leaning towards an official launch on January 3, 2021, coinciding with the 12th anniversary of Bitcoin's creation.

Vitalik believes that without critical DApps transitioning to ETH 2.0, most applications will still use ETH 1.0. Developers have ample time for debugging, so the risk of this year's launch is not high and is expected to take place in November.

Currently, "Medalla" must run for at least three months, undergo comprehensive attack and defense testing without potential vulnerabilities before going live, and is expected to achieve the 2.0 transition in mid-November. The rise of DeFi this year, accompanied by surges, has further boosted Ethereum's momentum. However, Vitalik believes this will not affect Bitcoin's position and stated:

Ethereum does not resist Satoshi Nakamoto but continues Satoshi Nakamoto's vision.