Ethereum Team Plans to Develop New Testnet: Holli
The Ethereum Core Devs team is set to develop a new testnet named Holli. This move aims to address the challenges associated with testing on Ethereum's current two testnets.
The deployment of Holli is anticipated by the end of this year, aiming to enhance the testing environment for client node developers, dApp developers, and node operators. This solution will address the difficulties many projects face in acquiring testnet ETH for product testing on the existing Ethereum testnets.
A new testnet, Holli, is planned to launch later this year, and hopefully we can figure out these things before then! I've made two suggestions on the repo, and would love to hear from application layer devs about how we could better approach this!
— timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) February 23, 2023
Developer Tim Beiko has stated that the new testnet will be optimized for client developers, applications, and node operators.
Currently, Ethereum has two prominent testnets: Goerli and Sepolia. Goerli is the primary testnet and serves as the first to support various client versions for validators. However, the distribution of the native coin Goerli-ETH (GoETH) has been inefficient, concentrating in the hands of a few validator entities. Only a small portion of GoETH is redistributed to users through faucets and direct Twitter verification.
These methods affect personal information security and are time-consuming for users.
Recently, LayerZero protocol developers implemented a liquidity pool allowing users to acquire GoETH using ETH from the mainnet. While many developers support this move, others have criticized it for deviating from the original “free” objective of testnets.
Sepolia, another testnet, faces issues with supply and design problems, as validators can mint Sepolia-ETH (SepETH) freely. The network is not yet open to all validators, meaning a significant portion of the supply is concentrated among certain entities. As a result, Tim Beiko and the Ethereum team have decided to build Holli.
To make Holli-ETH more accessible to developers, Beiko suggests randomly distributing coin supply to addresses that deploy smart contracts on Ethereum's testnets and mainnet.
