- A Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) of 50000000000000000 has been selected for Ropsten Merge.
- Stakers and node operators must manually override the DTT in both your execution and consensus layer clients before June 7, 2022.
- Proof-of-Work proofnets can have volatile hash rates and the exact timing of The Merge on Ropsten is hard to predict with any precision. Assuming there are no unexpected hash rate fluctuations, we expect The Merge to happen around June 8 and 9, 2022.
- Note that synchronization of a runtime client in Ropsten can take several hours or days and is required to run through The Merge.
Bottom
Earlier this week, Ropsten testnet transition to proof of stake It was announced. Due to hash rate instability in proof-of-work proofnets, the client versions supporting the upgrade were configured using an artificially high hash rate. Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD). This ensured that The Merge could not be activated before the Ropsten Beacon Chain was ready.
yesterday in the groove 24000, the Bellatrix update was activated on the Ropsten Beacon Chain, preparing the network to run through The Merge. a new DTT value of 50000000000000000 has been chosen to trigger the transition.
Node operators and participants need to update this manually DTT value on both its execution and consensus layer clients before the network reaches this full difficulty. The total difficulty of the current network is part of the block header and can be obtained by querying its node or by visiting a block explorer.
Assuming no unexpected changes in the network hash rate, we expect this total difficulty value to be reached, and DTT to overcome, around June 8 and 9, 2022.
Ropsten Merge Client Versions
To perform full terminal difficulty override, node operators and participants must be running the following or newer client versions. Note that both the consensus layer and the execution layer clients must be fully synchronized before The Merge, and that the execution layer clients can take several hours or days to do so.
consensus layer
execution layer
Total Terminal Difficulty Override
To activate The Merge at the right time, node operators and stakers must override both your execution and consensus layer clients Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) value to 50000000000000000.
Here are instructions for doing it with each client:
execution layer
Better
- If you use TOML configuration files, add the following line:
override-genesis-config=(“terminalTotalDifficulty=50000000000000000”) - Or, when starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag:
–override-genesis-config=”terminalTotalDifficulty=50000000000000000″
erigon
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –override.terminaltotaldifficulty=500000000000000000
Go-Ethereum (geth)
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –override.terminaltotaldifficulty 500000000000000000
nether mind
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –Merge.TerminalTotalDifficulty 500000000000000000
- This can also be set in your client’s account. configuration file either Environment Variablesconfiguring the TerminalTotalDifficulty value to 50000000000000000
consensus layer
Lighthouse
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –terminal-total-difficulty-abort=50000000000000000
Polar Star
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –terminal-total-difficulty-override 50000000000000000
- For more information, see this blog post.
Cloud
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –terminal-total-difficulty-abort=50000000000000000
Prism
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –terminal-total-difficulty-override 50000000000000000
- This can also be set in the config.yaml file updating the TOTAL_TERMINAL_DIFFICULTY value in your config directory and restarting your client.
Sea
- When starting the node using the CLI, add the following flag: –Xnetwork-total-terminal-difficulty-override=50000000000000000
Frequently asked questions
As a node operator or staker, what should I do?
As mentioned in the Ropsten merger announcementNode operators and Ropsten stakeholders should update their consensus and execution layer clients to the versions listed above or to newer versions.
Once this is done, node operators and participants must manually override the Ropsten Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) value in both your execution and consensus layer client using the commands listed above.
Lastly, make sure that both your execution and consensus layer clients are fully in sync before The Merge. This can take several days for execution layer clients.
As an application or tool developer, what should I do?
With The Merge live on Ropsten, now is the time to ensure your product works as expected through the proof-of-stake transition and in a post-merger context. As explained in a previous post, The Merge will only have a minimal impact on a subset of the contracts implemented on Ethereum, none of which should be broken. Also, most user API endpoints remain stable (unless you use specific proof-of-work methods, such as eth_getWork).
That being said, most applications on Ethereum involve much more than on-chain contracts. Now is the time to make sure that your front-end code, tools, deployment pipeline, and other off-chain components work as expected. We strongly recommend that developers run a full test and deployment cycle on Ropsten (or Kiln) and report any problems with tools or dependencies to the maintainers of those projects. If you are not sure where to open an issue, use this repository.
As an Ethereum user or Ether holder, do I need to do anything?
No. The Ethereum mainnet is not affected by this testnet. Further announcements will be made on this blog prior to the mainnet transition.
As a miner, is there anything I need to do?
No. If you are mining on the main Ethereum or Ropsten network, you should be aware that each network will operate fully under proof of stake after The Merge. At that point, mining will no longer be possible on the network.
This is expected around June 8-9, 2022 on Ropsten and later this year for the Ethereum mainnet.
We went to merge?
As of the publication of this post, the date for the Ethereum mainnet proof-of-stake transition has been not been established. Any source that claims otherwise is likely a scam. Updates will be posted on this blog. Please stay safe!
Assuming no issues are found with Ropsten, once the client test is complete, the other Ethereum testnets will run through The Merge. Once Goerli and Sepolia have successfully transitioned and stabilized, a slot height will be chosen for Bellatrix’s Beacon Chain upgrade and a terminal total difficulty value it will be configured to transition to the main network. Customers will then make releases that enable The Merge on the mainnet. These will be announced on this blog and other community posts. The following image illustrates this process:
Note that this assumes that each step goes as expected. If issues are found at any point in the process or if test coverage is deemed insufficient, they will be addressed before proceeding with the deployment process.
Only then will it be possible to estimate the exact date of The Merge.
In other words, 🔜.
