Deposit contract and first backbone element of Ethereum proof-of-stake infrastructure smashes through another crucial milestone
The Proof-of-Stake Ethereum (ETH) deposit contract registers another impressive milestone as its community nears the latest pre-merger testnet.
10 million ETH now locked in deposit contract
Today, on March 10, 2022, Ethereum (ETH) community enthusiasts are celebrating an amazing milestone in its Proof-of-Stake deposit contract.
The first deposit contract of the new Ethereum (ETH) now holds more than 10 million Ether (ETH) in its balance. The value of the contract denominated in USD therefore eclipses $26 billion.
As such, the lion’s share of the entire circulating supply of the second cryptocurrency is locked into this contract. However, some automated trackers (e.g., Beaconscan) display that this milestone is yet to come.
On November 23, 2020, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract was launched as the cornerstone of its ecosystem.
Final pre-merge testnet, Kiln, goes live
In light of this milestone, Ethereum (ETH) developers accelerated the testing of the upcoming Proof-of-Stake mechanism of Ethereum.
Kiln, the latest pre-merger testnet, has been launched, as reported by Ethereum developer Marius van der Wijden. Once its testing is complete, Ethereum developers will begin merging the “real world” consumer testnets Ropsten, Rinkeby, and Goerli.
Enthusiasts are invited to experiment with the opportunities opened by the new testnet: they even can try deploying dApps and DeFis to Kiln.
Investors are bullish on ETH 2.0
The growing number of unique depositors, validators, and the ETH balance on the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract is an indicator that investors and the Ethereum community are bullish on the native token for the long term. This is evident, as deposits and rewards can only be withdrawn after the launch of Phase 1.5 of the Network Upgrade.
An August report also noted that whales were also blocking their ether, with more than 95,000 ETH staked in a single day.
Possible vulnerabilities
Meanwhile, while users remain optimistic, Ethereum developers are working tirelessly to make ETH 2.0 a reality. With phase 0 already completed at the end of 2020, the Altair upgrade on the beacon chain was successfully deployed in October 2021.
Although a recent report revealed that the upcoming transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) could expose the Ethereum network to potential attacks, one developer claims otherwise. He reassured the community that the merger will be safe while also outlining a possible solution ahead of the event, which is expected to take place in Q1 or Q2 2022.
