Testing for Ethereum's Coming Consensus Change Is Moving Ahead

A hotly anticipated change aimed at ridding ethereum of its bitcoin-inspired mining process is moving forward in testing, with the platform's popular software clients now participating in review.

The current iteration of the idea actually finds ethereum's developers proceeding with a plan that would enable both its new and old consensus algorithms to work together to protect the network from unexpected attack vectors that may arise during the transition.

The code provides a way for mining to continue undisturbed by layering a smart contract on top of ethereum that allows users to bet on transaction histories in exchange for rewards.

According to the current block times, the difficulty bomb is expected to activate in about two years, at which time the new consensus method, proof-of-stake, is expected to launch - and ethereum will relinquish its mining layer entirely.

While much of that has been in the project's official roadmap, what's new is that the smart contract in question is getting tested by Parity, the second largest ethereum software client.

Plus, Geth, the largest ethereum software client by users, is getting closer to launching its implementation of the code on testnet.

With the work going toward testing the smart contract - less than a year from when the Casper white paper was released - it seems clients are equally as interested in pushing proof-of-stake from concept to code.

According to Wei, Parity is using the testnet specification to test out network functionality, such as how voting happens and blocks are formed, in an effort to make sure the smart contract code behaves in conditions that mirror those of ethereum itself.

Not only that, but Wei said, the testing is also about making sure the smart contract doesn't conflict with the way ethereum clients are written.

Rather, Ryan continued, it's important to have all ethereum clients testing the code in a shared testing environment before such decisions can be made.