OKEx Pool, the staking arm of the OKEx conglomerate, announced that it has joined an Ethereum 2.0 testnet as a Proof-of-Stake validator.

As revealed by its April 29 blog entry, OKEx is now validating blocks in the Ethereum 2.0 Topaz testnet, launched by Prysmatic Labs. Alysa Xu, the chief strategy officer for OKEx, said that the exchange believes in the potential of Ethereum and its role in the manufacture.

In improver, she revealed that the exchange is planning to promote Ethereum development subsequently having "already established the collaboration with Prysmatic Labs."

Prysmatic Labs is ane of several companies that are working on a customer for Ethereum two.0.

Independent Testnets

For Ethereum two.0, the Ethereum Foundation is allowing many independent projects to come up with their ain clients. This is the software that defines how a blockchain operates, and it is important that all implementations remain compatible with each other.

The Topaz testnet is a new iteration of Prysmatic Labs' testing surround, launched on April 16. Information technology replaced the previous version launched in 2022, called Sapphire. Ane of the most impactful changes between the two versions is the minimum staking requirement, which was upped from three.two ETH to the full 32 ETH.

To access the Topaz testnet, one needs to deposit ETH on the Goerli testnet, which is running standard Ethereum 1.0. This connexion is required to test one of the most critical components of Ethereum 2.0 — the deposit contract. This smart contract manages all staking activity and is a key part of the planned Ethereum Stage 0 upgrade.

Every bit Cointelegraph reported in January, the Ethereum Foundation issued a grant to the developers of Nimbus, another Ethereum two.0 client.

It is still unclear when Ethereum 2.0 may run across an official release. Developers previously bodacious the community that the outset phase is likely to come before the end of 2022.

Exchange validators

Proof-of-Stake systems ofttimes see exchanges dominate the cake product process due to their command of user stakes.

While this was used for political purposes in the Steem takeover scandal, other blockchains seem to accept a more symbiotic relationship with exchanges.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, not all exchanges allow their users to express their vote or benefit from staking — though OKEx is an exception.