=nil's first public testnet. The Ethereum Layer 2 protocol using zero-knowledge sharding is currently live.
=nil;The Foundation announced Testnet v1 on October 30th, noting that this release marks another milestone as the Ethereum (ETH) L2 protocol approaches mainnet.
Testnet follows previous devnet releases of the platform that allow developers to stress test proof-of-concept projects. With the public release of =nil, zkRollup in Testnet v1 aims to gather valuable feedback from a broader user group.
This release focuses on improving the development experience for user testing.
By testing zkSharding, developers can now access an expanded ecosystem of decentralized applications. Testnet v1 provides the public with an opportunity to help identify potential bugs as various applications undergo stress testing. Developers also use testnets to develop tools.
=nil;The Foundation introduced Ethereum zkRollup in November 2023. L2 was intended to scale the Ethereum network to over 60,000 transactions per second through zkSharding.
zkSharding combines zero-knowledge rollup and sharding to enable parallel transaction processing. This works while the network maintains shared state. This means developers can extend Ethereum without the typical trade-offs experienced with modularization.
The problems that =nil;'s zkSharding solution helps solve include liquidity and security fragmentation, composability with Ethereum's mainnet, and data transparency and verifiability.
This testnet brings the Layer 2 protocol closer to its roadmap goal of launching mainnet in Q4 2025.
Testnet v1 and later =nil; will transition to v2 and v3 phases in Q2 and Q3 of 2025, respectively. zkEVM, performance testing and stability, and UX are key targets before mainnet launch.
