Representatives of the crypto-project Prysmatic Labs reported on the release of a testnet called Sapphire – the development is the embodiment of the fourth version of the official specifications intended for the main chain Ethereum 2.0 (Beacon Chain), which was presented by the Ethereum Research development team.
Among the main features of the Sapphire testnet is the availability of the stacking ability of ETH test coins based on the PoS algorithm (Casper). Stacking is an alternative way to extract coins in PoS networks. So, if a user redirects from Goetli’s testnet to Sapphire 3.2 ETH, then he will be able to test his abilities as a validator. In order to launch the validator node, the user needs to install the Prysm client – it is the only one for Sapphire. It should be noted that so far the network has set a limit on the number of validators; Sapphire validators can receive rewards or fines for their actions.
The developers of Ethereum Research pay attention to the fact that testnet is not a simulator, although in this version only the simplest parameters are configured. So, users cannot yet transfer funds, and there are no smart contracts and other features in Sapphire that involve interaction with the Ethereum virtual machine.
The capabilities of this version of testnet are limited to managing the registry of validators, performing stacking, and generally building a blockchain. The expansion of Sapphire’s capabilities is planned for daily, rebooting is expected to occur only if a critical vulnerability is discovered that blocks the operation of the network.
