Ethereum Moves Forward in Transition to PoS Model with Launch of Shadow Fork

Ethereum’s first mainnet shadow fork recently went live as the cryptocurrency developer looks to deploy the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade and transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) model. A “shadow fork” is copying of data from a mainnet — a crypto’s primary blockchain — network to a testnet in order to allow developers and engineers to stress test certain features before being deployed to the main network.

Currently, Ethereum runs on a proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism which is expected to be replaced by the PoS model to significantly slash the energy necessary to validate transactions. This has also been a key point of contention for the Bitcoin network, which also uses the PoW model.

Marius Van Der Wijden, a developer for the Ethereum Foundation, noted in an earlier tweet that the shadow fork marks a “historical event” as the PoS model is tested on the Ethereum network. “Today will be the first mainnet shadow fork ever,” added Van Der Wijden. The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade has been in development for a while now. The first phase dubbed the “Beacon Chain” went live on December 1, 2021, which will be followed by “The Merge” — merging the mainnet with the Beacon Chain — to be completed “by Q2 or possibly slipping into Q3,” according to ConsenSys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin.

Parithosh Jayanthi, also an Ethereum Foundation developer, added that some transactions could appear on both the mainnet and testnet. Nonetheless, it provides “a way to check if our assumptions work on existing testnets and/or mainnet,” explained Jayanthi. So far, around 1.8 million transactions have been processed by the Ethereum shadow fork network with an average block time of 13.8 seconds.

Other shadow forks have been tested by Ethereum in the past on the Görli testnet — a proof-of-authority blockchain used for testing decentralized applications. It, likewise, previously tested the Kiln merge testnet which was geared “to allow the community to practice running their nodes, deploying contracts, testing infrastructure, etc.,” according to Jayanthi.

Sources: CoinDesk, Decrypt