Ethereum 2.0: Prysmatic Labs Rolls Out Topaz Testnet

Prysmatic Labs, a team of software engineers dedicated to making the Ethereum smart contracts blockchain better, has announced that the ETH 2.0 Topaz testnet will be launched on or before April 19, 2020, at exactly 00:00 UTC. The team says interested node validators mus send their deposit before April 16, according to a blog post on April 14, 2020.

ETH 2.0 Launch Gets Closer

While the Ethereum network remains the clear leader in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi), thanks to its robust smart contracts support, the team is however not resting on its oars just yet, working round the clock to make the network better.

Having previously successfully rolled out the Ruby, Sapphire, and Diamond testnets, Prysmatic Labs, one of the Ethereum development teams working hard to make the ETH 2.0 dream a reality, is set to launch the Topaz testnet this weekend.

For the uninitiated, ETH 2.0 simply refers to a series of potential updates designed to fix the existing issues plaguing the Ethereum network, including scalability, mining, and security, among others, to make the platform even better.

The Prysmatic Labs team has hinted that the Topaz test network is quite unique, as it comes with the full Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 mainnet configuration.

Preston van Loon, co-founder at Prysmatic Labs said:

“The test network is very significant because it mirrors the mainnet scale and parameters to the fullest. Earlier testnet versions such as Sapphire came with either a smaller scale configuration for rapid iteration or used fractional deposits instead of the full 32 ETH deposit value.”

Topaz Testnet Accepting Genesis Deposits

Notably, Prysmatic Labs has made it clear that while the Sapphire testnet validators were allowed to deposit just 3.2 ETH, interested genesis validators in the Topaz test network will however need to deposit the full 32 ETH on the Goerli ETH1 testnet to participate.

The team says the Topaz testnet is now accepting genesis deposits and all genesis validators must send their deposits before April 16, 2020, at 00:00 UTC.

Van says the Topaz testnet will function as a single-client network, however, it will support interoperability between other clients on the latest spec for Phase 0.

He added:

“When other client teams update to the latest specification, we fully expect to have multiple clients validating in Topaz, but this network is not the official coordinated multi-client testnet that we require before mainnet launch.”

At press time, the price of Ether (ETH) is up by 5.74 percent, trading at $167.90, with a market cap of $18.56 billion.