Successful Second Attempt: Ethereum Developers Launch Holesky Test Network

The original launch of Holesky, which was initially scheduled for September 15, was meant to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Ethereum's significant "Merge" transition. However, things didn't go as planned. Now, developers are giving it another shot.

On Thursday, Ethereum developers seemed to have succeeded in their second attempt to launch the Holesky test network, after an unsuccessful try earlier this month.

As of 8:23 am ET, the process appeared to be progressing smoothly. However, developers emphasized that the "participation rate" needed to reach at least 66% for the launch to be finalized.

During a live stream on YouTube from EthStaker, one of the developers mentioned around 8:10 am ET, "It looks like the launch is successful."

"We won't need to create a third one!" another developer on the call exclaimed.

Welcome to the world #Holesky :D
The largest public testnet we've had to date!

FYI: Holešovice has two train stations, fits that we had to launch the testnet twice :D
photo credits: @skylenet pic.twitter.com/wPSR4Gbhtq

— parithosh | ???????????????? (@parithosh_j) September 28, 2023

The new Holesky network is designed to empower developers to experiment with ambitious scaling solutions for the core Ethereum blockchain. It is set to replace the widely used Goerli testnet. This new testnet will accommodate twice as many validators as the mainnet and was created to address supply issues related to Goerli's testnet ETH.

The original planned launch date for Holesky on September 15 was envisioned as a celebration of Ethereum's one-year milestone in transitioning to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake blockchain, known as the "Merge." However, due to misconfiguration issues, this plan did not materialize, according to the developers.

Given the previous unsuccessful attempt, developers decided to postpone the launch and start fresh. "Considering it'll be a new network that'll be operational for years," noted Parithosh Jayanthi, a devops engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, in an interview with Bitsday.

Holesky is slated to play a crucial role in Ethereum's upcoming hard fork, Dencun, where proto-danksharding, a technical feature aimed at reducing gas fees, is set to become operational.

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