Ropsten Merger Announcement | Ethereum Foundation Blog

Published:

  • A Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) selection was made to merge Ropsten – this is represented by a value of50000000000000000.
  • Stakers and Node Operators will need to manually adjust the rules for DTT prior to June 7, 2022.
  • Proof-of-Work Proofnets can be unpredictable and the exact timing of hash changes is difficult to predict. Assuming no sudden changes in hash rates, the merge should happen around June 8 and 9 2022.
  • Note that synchronization of the runtime client to Ropsten can take several hours or even days. It is essential to follow the instructions for the merge.

Background

Earlier This Week, the transition from the testnet to the proof of stake for Ropsten was announced. Client versions that support the upgrade were released using a artificially high hash rate to avoid instability in hash rates for proof-of-work proofnets. Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) was selected to ensure the merge could not be activated before the Ropsten Beacon Chain was ready.

Yesterday, In the groove 24000?, Bellatrix was updated on the Ropsten Beacon Chain in preparation for the merge. A new DTT value of 50000000000000000 was chosen to initiate the transition.

Node Participants and Operators must manually update this DTT value prior to the network reaching its full difficulty. This must be done for both the execution layer and consensus client layer. The block header shows the total difficulty of the network. You can query the node and visit a block-explorer to find out more.

Assuming no unexpected changes in the network hashrate, this total difficulty level should be reached around June 8 and 9 2022.

Ropsten Merge Client Versions

To perform the total difficulty override, participants and node operators must have the latest client version. Note that prior to synchronizing the execution layer clients with the consensus layer, the merge can take several hours to complete.

consensus layer


execution layer


Total Terminal Difficulty Override

To activate the merge, stakers and node owners must decide when the right time is to set the both the execution and consensus-layer clients Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) value to 50000000000000000.

Here are some guidelines to follow when working with clients