Ethereum launches Kintsugi testnet to prepare for merge

Ethereum Foundation member Tim Beiko posted today that the Kintsugi testnet is now live. Kintsugi helps prepare for Ethereum 2.0’s “merge.”

The merge will combine Ethereum’s current mainnet, which handles transactions, with Ethereum 2.0’s beacon chain, which handles staking. If successful, this will replace Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism with Proof-of-Stake, effectively ending the energy-intensive process of mining.