As previously communicated, the Ropsten network has been phased out and will be terminated in the upcoming weeks. Throughout the recent months, infrastructure providers have gradually ceased their support for the network, while validator participation rates have consistently diminished.
The majority of the remaining validator nodes are scheduled to be powered down between December 15-31, 2022. Following this period, Ropsten will no longer receive support from client, testing, or infrastructure teams.
As a reminder, the next testnet set to be retired is Rinkeby. The network will remain operational until mid-2023 to allow users and application developers to transition to either Goerli or Sepolia. However, Rinkeby does not facilitate The Merge, nor will it accommodate future network enhancements. It is no longer a feature-comparable duplicate of the Ethereum mainnet.
The Merge and the phase-out of legacy testnets have created a chance for the Ethereum community to reconsider its overall strategy towards test networks. Discussions regarding purpose-driven networks for stakers versus developers, end-of-life standards for testnets, and more are ongoing on Ethereum Magicians and during community meetings. If you have strong viewpoints about the future of Ethereum testnets, now is the moment to express them!
Cover image by Micael Widell
