The =nil; Foundation has officially launched the first public testnet for its Ethereum layer-2 protocol, utilizing zero-knowledge sharding, as of October 30. This milestone brings the protocol closer to its mainnet debut.
Following the earlier release of a development network, which allowed for stress-testing the proof of concept, the launch of =nil; Testnet v1 is designed to gather feedback from a broader user base. The current focus is on enhancing the development experience through user testing.
With the introduction of Testnet v1, developers can now access an expanded ecosystem of decentralized applications while testing zkSharding. This public testnet invites users to identify potential bugs as various applications undergo rigorous stress testing. Additionally, developers will leverage the testnet to refine their tooling.
Introduced in November 2023, the Ethereum zkRollup aims to scale the Ethereum network to over 60,000 transactions per second using zkSharding. This innovative approach combines zero-knowledge Rollups with sharding, allowing for parallel transaction processing while maintaining a shared network state, thereby avoiding the common trade-offs associated with modularity.
The zkSharding solution addresses key issues such as liquidity and security fragmentation, composability with Ethereum’s mainnet, and data transparency and verifiability.
The launch of the testnet is a significant step towards the roadmap goal of a mainnet launch in Q4 2025. Following Testnet v1, the protocol plans to progress to v2 and v3 phases in Q2 and Q3 of 2025, focusing on zkEVM, performance testing, stability, and user experience enhancements before the mainnet release.
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