<img src="https://crypto.news/app/uploads/2024/08/crypto-news-broken-ethereum-trading-chart-option02.webp” />
The first public testnet for =nil; The protocol, a layer 2 of ethereum that uses zero-knowledge sharding, is now available.
= null; Base announced Testnet v1 on October 30, marking the launch as another milestone as the ethereum (eth) L2 protocol moves closer to its mainnet.
The testnet follows the previous release of the devnet platform, which allowed developers to stress test the project's proof of concept. With the public release of =nil; Testnet v1, zkRollup, aims to collect valuable feedback from a broader group of users.
For this release, the focus is on putting improvements to the development experience into user testing.
An expanded ecosystem of decentralized applications is now accessible as developers test zkSharding. Testnet v1 offers the public the opportunity to help identify potential bugs as various applications undergo stress testing. Developers will also use the testnet to work on tools.
The =null; The ethereum Foundation introduced zkRollup in November 2023, and the L2 aimed to scale the ethereum network to over 60,000 transactions per second via zkSharding.
zkSharding combines zero-knowledge rollup with sharding, enabling parallel transaction processing. This works while the network maintains a shared state, meaning it is possible to scale ethereum without the typical trade-offs developers experience with modularity.
The problems that the zkSharding solution of =nil; helps address include liquidity and security fragmentation, composability with the ethereum mainnet, and data transparency and verifiability.
The testnet brings the Layer 2 protocol closer to its roadmap goal of launching the mainnet in the fourth quarter of 2025.
After testnet v1, =nil; It will move to phases v2 and v3 in the second and third quarters of 2025, respectively. zkEVM, performance, stability and UX testing are the key objectives before the mainnet launch.
