The Ethereum Foundation’s Javascript Team tweeted: “One thing we are really proud of: this is a pure JS based testnet. This should make the testnet particularly accessible for dApp and front-end developers.”
Ethereum developers launched the Shandong testnet to work on the upcoming Shanghai update.
Following "The Merge," Ethereum switched to a PoS consensus model, thus allowing users to stake their assets to verify blockchain transactions.
However, the Ethereum Network does not allow users to un-stake their assets. Instead, most staking platforms provide a representative token that can be used the same way as Ethereum token.
Earlier, the developers claimed this issue will be resolved once Ethereum’s first major update, Shanghai, goes live. To facilitate its launch, they released the Shandong testnet to work on the suggestions provided by the community.
The Shandong test network will also lay the groundwork for more Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs).
It will activate EIP-3540, a proposal that seeks to separate data and code in Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This will make it easier to implement future updates to the EVM.
Parithosh Jayanthi, a DevOps engineer for Ethereum Foundation, noted, “The Shandong testnet is meant to give developers a chance to try out the potential EIPs to find issues.”
A much-anticipated addition is EIP-4895. This will allow users to liquidate their staked ETH tokens and withdraw their earnings.
The Shanghai update is expected to launch in September 2023. The final list of EIPs that will be included in the update is currently unknown. Micah Zoltu, the Founder of Serv.eth Support, added,
“Lots of people have lots of things they want to go in [the Shanghai update], but there isn’t yet consensus on what will actually make it.”
