Recap from OST LIVE with Aidan Hyman, Co-Founder and CEO of ChainSafe Systems — Discussing Görli, The New Cross Client PoA Testnet MOTA Follow Dec 18, 2018 · 4 min read

Aidan Hyman is an enthusiastic advocate and coordinator for several open source projects, including Görli Testnet, a cross-client, Proof-of-Authority testnet for Ethereum developers. Hyman is also co-founder and CEO of ChainSafe Systems, a group of developers working on Ethereum-related research and development projects, including Görli. Hyman joined us on Episode 49 of OST LIVE to discuss all things Görli and the challenges of building a consistently available, highly reliable testnet that is usable across all client implementations.

Origins of Görli

Görli started as a hackathon project at ETHBerlin created by the ChainSafe Systems team and Afri Schoedon, release manager at Parity. The initial idea was to implement Aura, Parity’s Proof-of-Authority consensus engine, into Go Ethereum. The implementation was very challenging, so the team decided to implement Clique, the PoA consensus engine in Geth, into Parity. Görli has since had many contributors from outside of the ChainSafe Systems team. The idea was to create a cross-client PoA testnet where multiple clients are able to be validators, as there was no cross-client testnet available at that time.

Ethereum Testnet

The three main testnets in Ethereum are Ropsten, Kovan, and Rinkeby. Ropsten is a Proof-of-Work testnet that requires miners. Reliability and consistency issues have emerged from PoW testnets because there are no financial incentives for miners. To alleviate some of the pressure and to create a consistently reliable testnet, teams at Parity and Geth each created their own PoA consensus engines: Aura and Clique. By having trusted validators confirm blocks, the network is able to effectively create a stable and consistent testnet for developers.

There is no mining involved with PoA. Essentially, a trusted group of validators get picked to finalize a block. PoA also helps reduce the likelihood of a 51% attack. The network is well aware of who those validators are because validation is required.

Görli, a Proof-of-Authority Testnet

Görli can be compared to Rinkeby. It is essentially a fork of Clique, which is the consensus engine used in Geth. Rinkeby is the original testnet for Geth. Görli has been working on integrating Clique into a multitude of clients. Görli was created so the community can take ownership and responsibility for a reliable testnet, something that Hyman says we take for granted.

The hope is that Görli will alleviate pressure from core developers so they won’t have to worry about setting up a reliable testnet. Each Ethereum testnet is known for having a specific feature. Görli is a new testnet that allows for a standardized set of features that all clients can commit to. Clique is also currently available in a couple clients.

Any developer can use the Görli testnet today, but it is currently in a pre-testnet phase labeled v. 0.2. There is also a faucet available so that developers can trade any testnet ETH for GoETH, which is Görli’s testnet token. This is done by using a bridge that allows for ETH on one testnet to be deposited into a contract, then it allows Görli ETH to be withdrawn on another contract on Görli’s testnet. Developers can currently trade Ropsten, Kovan, and Rinkeby for GoETH on goerli.com/bridge. The open-source, developer-friendly Geth code is available on GitHub. Anyone can use it in their applications.

Görli is currently compatible with Geth, Parity, Pantheon, Nevermind, and Ethereum.js. An instance of Blocks Scout has also been implemented. Blocks Scout is an open source block explorer that supports Görli. You can view it here. The team is still working on merging Clique upstream into Parity and ensuring that there will be reliability for the testnet from Geth, Parity, and other clients so that anyone can use this network. Görli invites anyone to contribute to the project and join the conversation on Gitter. Developers can view the project tasks laid out on GitHub.

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Brian Lio is CEO of Smith + Crown, a research and consulting group focused on providing insight, analysis, and data across the breadth of technologies, projects, organizations, and trends within the blockchain and cryptofinancial industries. Lio will share insights from the Chamber of Digital Commerce Token Alliance and current trends in blockchain-based projects. Subscribe to our YouTube channel or listen to the audio format anywhere you listen to podcasts, including iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. We’re also now available on Alexa! Simply add “OST LIVE” to your flash briefing.

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OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses. In September 2018 OST introduced the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. OST KIT is a full-stack suite of developer tools, APIs, and SDKs for managing blockchain economies. OST partners reach more than 300 million users. OST has offices in Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, and Pune. OST is backed by leading institutional equity investors including Tencent, Greycroft, Vectr Ventures, and 500 Startups.