March 18, 2024 update: The Dencun network enhancement successfully commenced on the Ethereum mainnet on March 13, 2024. According to the initial language of this notice, this suggests an April 13, 2024 termination date for the Goerli testnet.
That being said, as of this moment, almost all Goerli validators, which were operated selflessly by several community individuals, have already been deactivated. Therefore, users and developers of Goerli should transition to Sepolia or Holesky at their earliest convenience.
In the approaching months, Goerli, the first multi-client testnet of Ethereum, will cease to receive support from client and EF testing teams. The Dencun network enhancement will be the final one executed on the network.
Either three months following the Goerli Dencun activation, or one month subsequent to the Dencun mainnet activation, whichever is later, teams will commence shutting down their validators [1]. Anyone depending on Goerli as a reliable testnet should relocate prior to this.
Although Goerli staking is open to all, the validators from client and testing teams represent a significant majority of the stake. Their departure will consequently influence the network’s stability. Furthermore, teams intend to utilize this opportunity to test delayed finality, inactivity leaks, and mass-slashings.
Application and tool developers are urged to utilize Sepolia to assess decentralized applications, smart contracts, and various EVM functionalities. Its authorized validator group offers a secure testing environment. Alternatively, numerous local development settings permit testing against replicas of the Ethereum mainnet state.
Stakers and infrastructure suppliers focused on protocol-level testing are prompted to explore the recently introduced Holesky testnet, where anyone is able to operate a validator. For testing validator setup, stakers should also contemplate the Ephemery testnet. This network resets weekly and facilitates lightweight end-to-end testing of the validator lifecycle.
Goerli is currently anticipated to be the inaugural testnet to activate the Dencun upgrade. Once the upgrade date for the Goerli network is established, this post will be modified to reflect it. The enhancement will be publicized on this blog, and you can register to receive an email notification here.
Goerli was initiated and sustained in a manner that embodies the Ethereum community: a group of semi-random individuals congregated to address a technical challenge and ultimately ended up forging a community as a consequence. Gratitude is extended to all those who have contributed to the network throughout the years!
One contributor, who everyone would agree imparted the testnet with its essence, deserves a particular acknowledgment: Afri Schoedon, we appreciate the dedication and affection you bestowed upon Görli!
[1] The dual-deadline strategy was selected to grant client teams ample time to implement a fix to Goerli in the event that a defect with the network enhancement was discovered late in the deployment phase.
Cover image originally from Boris Niehaus on Wikipedia, and adapted by Tomo Saito.