The long-awaited Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is closer to reality after the Zinken testnet launched and ran smoothly
The Ethereum team launched the Zinken testnet on October 12, and developers report it has been “performing perfectly.” The earlier Spadina testnet served to help client teams address release-process issues and allowed validators to experience a genesis event in a test environment before mainnet launch.
In a project update, lead developer Danny Ryan explained that Zinken focused on refining the genesis process. Developer Terence Tsao praised the results on social media, calling it “almost perfect performance on an incentivized testnet that ran by the community.”
That outcome is encouraging after the Spadina trial encountered problems. Zinken is the final scheduled rehearsal for Eth2 genesis (the creation of the chain’s initial block). The next major milestone will be transitioning to the live proof-of-stake network.
Ethereum 2.0 requires a substantial validator set and a large deposit of ETH to secure the network—figures typically cited are over 16,000 validators and roughly 500,000 ETH. For testing purposes those thresholds are reduced to make trial runs feasible. Spadina failed to reach launch last month due to client errors and low participation, so Zinken’s smooth run marks a meaningful improvement.
Zinken, together with the earlier Medalla testnet, represents the community’s ongoing efforts to finalize Eth2. The upgrade aims to dramatically increase throughput—from about 15 transactions per second today to a theoretical target of up to 100,000 transactions per second—making the Ethereum network far more scalable and responsive.
Metrics reported on September 28 showed the Medalla testnet had attracted about 60,000 validators and nearly two million test ETH. Ryan said these figures have risen since then: roughly 15,000 additional validators joined, and test ETH totals increased to approximately 2.4 million.
“Genesis went well, which is the main thing we were looking for,” Ryan noted. Although Zinken met its primary objective, the testnet will remain active for a few more days to allow continued observation and any final adjustments.