Ethereum developers to scale back number of test networks

The Ethereum developers announced the shutdown of three test networks — Ropsten, Kiln and Rinkeby — after the mainnet's transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm.

This has been mentioned a few times already, but here is a proper announcement for the deprecation and shutdown timelines for Kiln, Ropsten & Rinkeby 🌅

Time to move to Goerli & Sepolia for all your testing needs ⚙️https://t.co/Izwla9vGDA

— Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth 🐼 (@TimBeiko) June 21, 2022

Testnets provide developers with environments to deploy and test for errors before a full launch. They are fully functional blockchains, whose history and activity are growing, the Ethereum team noted.

«Ultimately this makes running nodes and their maintenance more difficult. For this reason some test networks are periodically shut down», — says the statement.

Support for Kiln will end immediately after the Ethereum transition to PoS, or the so-called “The Merge.” The experimental network was launched in 2022.

On June 8, Ropsten was transitioned to PoS consensus. However, it will be shut down in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Rinkeby network will not undergo The Merge. It will cease operation roughly in the second/third quarter of 2023.

Users and developers were advised to use the Goerli or Sepolia testnets, which will be supported after the “Merge.”

The Ethereum team also reminded that at block #15 050 000 on the mainnet a Grey Glacier upgrade is planned. Its sole task is delay the activation of the “difficulty bomb” by about 100 days. The upgrade is expected to occur 30 June.

In August, the Ethereum team plans to conduct The Merge on the mainnet.

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