The Goerli testnet is a popular Proof of Authority testnet among clients for Ethereum, but is otherwise a completely separate entity from the Ethereum ledger. It was established in March 2019. Testing is underway on the applications before their final deployment to the mainnet.
Merchants can also send tokens from other chains to Goerli. The tokens used are the testnet version of the real ether and are supposed to be free for developers.
The Goerli distribution method for native ETH (GoETH) has been a major bone of contention, as its distribution is mostly in the hands of a few validating entities. They distribute a small amount of GoETH. The traditional approach uses services called faucets to obtain testnet tokens, which is considered inconvenient by many.
New focus
In response, a cross-chain platform, LayerZero, devised a way to swap and exchange Goerli’s testnet ether between the Ethereum mainnet and the testnet. The goal is to allow developers to purchase testnet ether directly from the decentralized exchange, Uniswap.
LayerZero developers launched a cross-chain liquidity pool that allows users to buy GoETH to allay concerns about the token acquisition. But critics have warned against the new approach of monetizing a testnet’s native currency and believe that such a mechanism will end up threatening the free nature of the testnet.
In fact, the price of testnet ether soared to $1.60 on Saturday, rising more than 673% from trading at $0.15 late last week. The token has lost much of its value since then, but is still trade close to $0.31.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams has called out token buyers and warned that he will lose testnet support in his latest cheep,
“If you’re buying goerli eth, why the hell are you doing that? Everyone knows that it’s an outdated testnet and will soon be unsupported, right? That said, it’s always fun when weird things happen on Uniswap.”
Following the development, Polygon’s chief information security officer, Mudit Gupta, also stepped in and fixed,
“Goerli eth is trading at ~$0.69. Not well. Testnet ether is supposed to be free, but speculators are flagging it. Keyboard warriors will tell you that the developers are buying it, but no, they’re not. Maybe 0.1% is buying for consumption. This is the beginning of the end for Goerli’s testnet. It served us well.”
potential solution
The acquisition of testnet ether has become a major problem. To address this, a solution has now been found proposed by Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko to develop a new testnet called Holli. Launching later this year, it is expected to improve the testing environment for application developers and clients, as well as node operators.
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