Second Ethereum 2.0 launch rehearsal puts it on track for 2020 release

Ethereum successfully launched yet another dress-rehearsal testnet for the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0, dubbed Zinken.

The launch occurred on Monday at 12 P.M. UTC and unlike previous attempts, was a smooth launch with enough participation and no major bugs.

The testnet was organized following the bittersweet launch of Spadina, the first rehearsal that aimed to test the launchpad for stakers.

As Cointelegraph reported at the time, the Spadina testnet suffered from low participation rates, which meant that a lot of validators who signed up for the testnet failed to bring their clients online.

Zinken became the first testnet that passed the finalization threshold within a few minutes of its existence, proving to be the most successful testnet launch so far.

Ethereum 2.0 developers were pleased with the launch, noting that "The Discord chat is silent" - a positive sign when compared to the earlier streams of bug reports and issues, they said.

This was the confirmation that the developers needed to go ahead with the mainnet launch.

"That's my impression. This is an ongoing dialogue with client teams, and we need to take a second to look at this testnet. But it is my understanding that this will trigger the next series of things. There's always blockers that might show up, [so] we need to do this responsibly."

Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 will feature the launch of a beacon chain, the first building block of the new blockchain.

Life on Ethereum 1.0 will continue as before though, since the two blockchains will have nearly no interaction with each other beyond a one-way deposit contract.