Testnets, testnets, testnets!
tl;dr
Medalla testnet
In light of the remarkable stability exhibited by Altona and following dialogues with eth2 client teams, Medalla – the forthcoming multi-client testnet – will have a MIN_GENESIS_TIME of 1596546000 (for those who might not think in unix time — August 4th, 2020, 1pm UTC)!
This represents a significant advancement from Altona, indicating that Medalla is a testnet created for and sustained by the community. The multi-client testnets preceding Medalla were labeled “devnets”, primarily operated by client teams and members of the EF (see the Altona segment of my prior post for a more comprehensive explanation), but with the initiation of this network, the stability and wellness of the chain will predominantly rely on the community’s involvement (your involvement ✋🤞🤟!).
Be aware that MIN_GENESIS_TIME indicates the earliest the chain is able to commence, although the chain won’t initiate until the minimum validator count is also achieved. To remain consistent with the mainnet specifications, Medalla will commence with no fewer than 16,384 validators (524,288 ETH). Should the minimum deposits (16,384 of them) not be attained by 1pm UTC on August 2nd (48 hours before min genesis), the chain will start later than MIN_GENESIS_TIME. This is acceptable.
In conclusion, genesis will take place 48 hours after both criteria are satisfied. We’ll all be vigilant, monitoring deposits, and once the genesis time is established, we will make a significant announcement about it 🎉
We will also introduce a version of the validator “Launchpad” for Medalla — an educational tool for validators to execute deposits. More information on this will be forthcoming
We’ll have at least four clients fully operational at genesis — lighthouse, nimbus, prysm, and teku. As is customary, we strongly promote client diversity to bolster strength and resilience in the network (see discussion regarding eth2’s various clients). Please don’t hesitate to explore client documents, experiment with compilation and configuration, and join their Discord servers for inquiries 🙂
In addition to the four clients mentioned above, I fully anticipate lodestar to participate in some form at the outset, and we might even encounter another unexpected client joining the mix.
Another thrilling announcement: Medalla will feature unique POAPs for participants in the launch! Stay tuned for additional details 🏅
Launch of Attacknets beta-0
Calling all whitehat 1337 h4x0rz👩🍳!
This week, three attacknets were introduced (lighthouse-attack-0, prysm-attack-0, and teku-attack-0), each offering a $5k bounty to disable it (meaning, disrupt finality for a minimum of 16 continuous epochs).
These preliminary attacknets are intentionally simplistic (1 client each) and compact (4 nodes each) so they ought to be relatively straightforward to dismantle. Refer to the README for more specific information and instructions on how to get started, and join the Eth R&D #attacknets channel for discussions and advice.
After the beta-0 attacknets, we plan to enhance both the size and complexity of the attacknets, while introducing more intricate challenges with larger rewards.
Oh! and a special mention 🏆 goes out to Jonny (TXRX) for successfully dismantling lighthouse-attack-0‘s discovery. Although this did not halt the finality of the testnet, he identified a crucial bug! Gratitude to Age (Sigma Prime) for the swift resolution.
Update on the progress of the eth1+eth2 merger
I wish to provide a brief update regarding the progress of the eth1+eth2 merger and to extend a massive acknowledgment to Mikhail (TXRX) and Guillaume (geth) for their exceptional contributions.
The prevailing vision for Ethereum’s future is to incorporate the current chain into the new eth2 consensus as a shard. This signifies the fusion of eth2 clients (consensus) with eth1 clients (highly optimized user interface) into a unified system. A high-level overview of the client relationship can be found here; a more detailed analysis of the merger discussed by Mikhail can be accessed here; and the architecture discussion of a geth-based eth1-engine (named Catalyst) by Guillaume is located here.
Since the content of these articles, Mikhail and Guillaume have been diligently transforming these concepts into practical applications. Guillaume’s Catalyst — a version of geth that defers its consensus to RPC calls (i.e., an eth2 client) — is constructed and ready for deployment; and Mikhail’s Phase 1 implementation is executing fully sharded eth2 simulations with selected shards deferring block production and validity requests to a local, stubbed eth1-engine.
The subsequent step is to link these two components for a comprehensive eth1+eth2 simulation!
Once more, fantastic job Mikhail and Guillaume. I’m incredibly enthusiastic about this and the fact that it’s occurring simultaneously with the upcoming launch of the beacon chain 🚀