Ethereum 2.0: Vitalik Buterin talks about a much more difficult challenge
A Bug on the ETH 2.0 Testnet?
Some Ethereum applications may fail?
Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, said he would “freely admit” that Ethereum 2.0 is “more difficult” to implement from a technical point of view than he had originally planned.
A Bug on the ETH 2.0 Testnet?
Recently, Ethereum announced the launch of its ETH 2.0 Testnet.
The developers said that Medalla, the ETH 2.0 testnet has been a success since its launch. However, shortly after the release of this success, a bug appeared.
On August 15, Preston Vanloon, co-founder of Prysmatic Labs, said he found a bug in the network. Prysmatic Labs is the implementation team of Prysm, one of the ETH 2.0 customers.
Usually on Prysm, roughtime accounts for more than 64% of the entire network and the bug has paralyzed all prysm nodes. This had an impact on the remaining 30% of the customers, making it impossible to reach agreement across the entire network.
The bug programmed the Roughtime 4 hours before the original, which caused the node to calculate the slot error. The ETH developers noted some flaws such as:
· missed slots
· low initial involvement of validators
· exceeding the deadline
· and a clock bug
Preston Vanloon said:
“A bug appeared in Medalla, the ETH 2.0 testnet that affected all of Prysm’s nodes. The client has a clock offset that lasts almost 90 minutes and the validator has received successive blocks of time slots”.
To fix the problem, the Prysmatic Labs team called on users to update their nodes to get the testnet back on track.
The Prysm team therefore developed Alpha.22, which is the main bug fix for the Medalla testnet. It is designed to provide “initial synchronization enhancements that can help solve the ongoing synchronization problems in the Medalla test network”.
Ethereum’s developers have stated that depending on the progress of the Medalla testnet and progress in resolving technical issues, the launch could take place as soon as possible.
The Prysmatic Labs team announced via Twitter:
“We need all the help we can get the testnet back on track and updating your nodes is a great way to add healthy peers to the network”.
Van Loon, developer of the Ethereum protocol and co-founder of Prysmatic Labs, also stressed the importance of using a testnet to find these kinds of bugs and to do so before the network goes live.
Read also: Ethereum 2.0: A source of Bull Run for Ethereum?
Some Ethereum applications may fail?
“I have no hesitation in admitting that Ethereum 2.0 is much more difficult to implement than we had anticipated from a technical point of view,” said Vitalik during a debate with Bitcoin maximist Samson Mow on Peter McCormack’s podcast on August 16th.
He added that it is likely that some Ethereum applications will fail while others will succeed, but he admits that this is part of how the project as a whole will progress.
The podcast hosted by Peter McCormack allowed Buterin and Mow to discuss questions about the reasons for the “open war” between the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks and whether Ethereum will be able to deliver on its many promises.
McCormack: Do you sometimes feel that Ethereum has become a much more challenging project or idea than you originally envisioned, and that you may have taken the bait more than you can chew? And that you’ve come to the point where there’s no turning back?
Mr. Buterin: “I’ll admit without hesitation that Ethereum 2.0 is much more difficult to implement than we had anticipated from a technical point of view…It’s likely that some Ethereum applications will fail, while others will succeed…If Ethereum tries to penetrate a space and it turns out that it’s not useful for that space, then all right, you know, those applications won’t go anywhere….
Samson Mow: “it’s good to rotate and evolve, but there has to be a healthy warning that this thing is experimental.»A lot of people say that Ethereum is money now and everything else and that it’s now competing with Bitcoin….even I’m not sure what Ethereum is, what it does, what it competes with. Is it a global computer? Or is it money?
Mr. Buterin: “I absolutely did not launch the idea that Ether is money, the Ethereum Foundation did not start it. It’s something that really came from outside”.
Certainly, this Medalla testnet bug could delay the launch of ETH 2.0, but according to Van Loon, a developer of the Ethereum protocol and co-founder of Prysmatic Labs, it shows the importance of using a testnet to find these kinds of bugs so that they can be solved before the final version.
Written by Laetisia Harson, Project Manager at Magna Numeris
