Following the most anticipated Ethereum Merge event in crypto history, the Ethereum core development team plans to shut down or deprecate three of its existing testnets: Ropsten, Kiln, and Rinkeby.
In the Merge event, the Ethereum blockchain’s consensus mechanisms will switch from the proof of work to the proof of stake. The merger is expected to take place in September.
According to the announcement, Kiln testnet launched in early 2022 with the goal of providing a post-merge testing environment, will be the first to shut down following the merge.
“With The Merge approaching, client developers have decided to deprecate more testnets in order to focus their efforts on properly maintaining two of them over the long-term,” the blog post notes.
Rinkeby testnet which has been operational since 2017 will be shut down between the second and third quarter of 2023 after Sepolia’s transition to proof-of-stake.
Ropsten is Ethereum’s largest testnet launched in 2016. On June 8th, Ethereum completed its very first dress rehearsal for Merge on the Ropsten testnet. However, the testnet will be shut down in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The developers who utilize Rinkeby and Ropsten as a staging or testing environment are asked to migrate to Goerli or Sepolia.
While Kiln and Ropsten have already switched to proof-of-stake, Rinkeby will skip this step.
Only the Goerli and Sepolia testnets will be sustained post-merge. Stakeholders who wish to test protocol updates and developers who want to communicate with a sizable existing state are advised to use Goerli.
Users and developers that desire a lighter-weight chain to sync to and interact with are advised to utilize Sepolia.
Also Read: Ethereum Sepolia Testnet Beacon Chain Goes Live Ahead of Merge
