Share this article
Sepolia Is the First Ethereum Testnet to Get a Post-Merge Upgrade
Upgrades to Ethereum test networks – even small ones – are important steps in ensuring that the new proof-of-stake protocol runs smoothly.
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:03 p.m. Published Aug 22, 2022, 4:16 p.m.
Sepolia, an Ethereum test network (testnet) chain had a post-merge update on Aug. 22 at 03:01 UTC – the first of its kind on any of the Ethereum proof-of-stake testnets. The update was originally slated for Aug. 17, but was postponed for four days to allow some offline validators to rejoin the network.
While the effects of the upgrade aren’t of the “user-facing” variety, the upgrade itself is worth understanding from a technical point of view, as it has implications for the future success of Ethereum's main blockchain after it transitions from a proof-of-work to a proof-of stake consensus protocol.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
In preparation for the Ethereum Merge forecast for mid-September, a series of test networks (testnets) have run through the merge process and transitioned from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. One of these testnets, Sepolia, successfully merged with its proof-of-stake beacon chain on July 6.
Read more: Merge Testing on Ethereum: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
The Sepolia testnet went through an upgrade on its Execution Layer (EL), at block 1,735,371. This caused EL clients to disconnect from any peers that did not transition to proof-of-stake, a process which helps maintain a healthy network for Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation noted that the upgrade will not add additional functionality to the chain.
Parithosh Jayanthi, a DevOps engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, told CoinDesk that “the upgrade is there just to clear up any dead nodes in the system. This is sort of a cleanup, and we wouldn’t really expect to see any change.” Jayanthi also noted that this is something they have to do every time a network merges.
Another week, another testnet upgrade 😁
— timbeiko.eth ☀️ (@TimBeiko) August 3, 2022
Sepolia, which merged a few weeks ago, now needs to undergo a simple post-merge upgrade to disconnect non-PoS peers. The upgrade is scheduled for August 17, and only ELs need to be updated. More info here 👇🏻https://t.co/4HwxundyTG
The Ropsten testnet did not upgrade because that chain is considered to be deprecated. On the Aug. 18 All Core Developers call, Ethereum developers discussed deprecating the Kiln testnet as well, ahead of the Merge (a bit earlier than anticipated), given that not many transactions are taking place on it, and participants have moved most of their testing over to the Goerli tesnet. Goerli, which transitioned to proof-of-stake last week, will still see network upgrades even after the Merge on Ethereum’s mainnet.
Alex Stokes, a researcher working on the Merge with the Ethereum Foundation, told CoinDesk that the upgrade isn’t that significant but it can be used as an identifier to help with peer discovery, or finding other nodes in the network. He also said that, ultimately, developers just want the upgrade to go well. They will “do something similar on other networks, but ultimately it will have similarly low fanfare.”
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Solana’s Drift Launches v3, With 10x Faster Trades
With v3, the team says that about 85% of market orders will fill in under half a second, and liquidity will deepen enough to bring slippage on larger trades down to around 0.02%.
What to know:
- Drift, one of the largest perpetuals trading platforms on Solana, has launched Drift v3, a major upgrade meant to make on-chain trading feel as fast and smooth as using a centralized exchange.
- The new version will deliver 10-times faster trade execution thanks to a rebuilt backend, marking the largest performance jump the project has made so far.
Top Stories
