- Ethereum developers have launched their first mainnet “shadow fork” ahead of the highly anticipated merge with Ethereum Classic. The fork, which is a software update that allows for compatibility between the two networks, is a major milestone in the process of unifying the two blockchain projects.
- The fork will enable full interoperability between the two networks, allowing for the transfer of value and data between the two chains.
What Exactly Is the Ethereum Shadow Fork?
- “Shadow Fork” refers to copying the data from a mainnet to a testnet, i.e, from Ethereum’s mainnet to a testnet which will help to stress-test the features before the final deployment.
- This happens as the testnet is mimicked very closely to the mainnet for a better assessment, currently, the testnet is processing over a million transactions each day.
- The “Shadow Fork” is connected to peers on a canonical Ethereum chain, which means that it will share some information with the main Ethereum network too. This particular situation could make some transactions visible on both chains.
The shadow fork explorer site was supposedly facing a network outage at midday Asia time on Tuesday, however, at the time of writing the network seemed to be on track with processing the test transactions.
Use of “Shadow Fork” to developers
- This is a significant development, as it paves the way for the two projects to combine their strengths and create a more robust and comprehensive blockchain ecosystem.
- The fork also opens up the possibility for new applications and services to be built on top of the combined network.
- The shadow fork allows developers to test and deploy code changes on the Ethereum mainnet without affecting the live network.
- The fork is also a way to test the new features of the Ethereum platform, such as the new smart contract programming language, before they are made available to the general public.
