Ethereum’s Ropsten Testnet: A Complete Guide

The Ethereum-based testnet, Ropsten, enables developers to experiment with protocol upgrades and decentralized applications before their deployment on the Ethereum mainnet. The testnet is similar to the mainnet due to its proof-of-work consensus model. 

Currently, developers can request Ropsten ETH using a Ropsten faucet, but it’s important to know the testnet will be merging with the Ropsten Beacon Chain around June 8-9, 2022 when the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) of 50000000000000000 is reached. Because of this merge, developers are advised to use alternative testnets such as the Kiln test network to test their applications and nodes in a post-merge environment. 

Note: The Ropsten testnet has been successfully merged.

What is the Ropsten testnet?

The Ropsten testnet, which is now deprecated, is an Ethereum-based test blockchain used by Ethereum developers to test protocol upgrades before deploying applications on the Ethereum mainnet.

As a result of its proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism protocol, the Ropsten testnet resembles the Ethereum mainnet more than other testnets. 

Ropsten supports node clients such as: 

• Geth
• Parity
• Nethermind
• Hyperledger Besu

Because it’s a testnet on the Ethereum network, there is no direct fiscal tie with the mainnet, which means that developers don’t need to worry about the implications of transactions and the cost of testing applications on the testnet. 

As the expense of erroneous implementations on the mainnet can be relatively high, it’s important for web3 developers to have access to a sandbox-like environment where the cost of a mistake or failure is negligible. 

Developers can request testnet Ether to a wallet of their choice using a testnet Ropsten faucet.  

When was Ropsten launched?

Ropsten launched in November 2016 as the official successor to Morden, the first Ethereum testnet based on a PoW authority consensus model. The Ropsten testnet has a chain and network ID of 3.

By using a PoW consensus mechanism, the Ropsten testnet relies on all nodes to verify the quantity of computational effort expended by a single node. This thwarts certain types of economic attacks on the network because miners have capital at risk. 

However, Ethereum core developers are in the process of merging the PoW mechanism with the Ropsten Proof of Stake Beacon Chain to prepare for Ethereum’s upcoming mainnet merge.

Today, the Ropsten testnet is used for historical relevance and is primarily used by core developers for testing upgrades to underlying protocols. Like so many other testnets on the Ethereum blockchain, the Ropsten testnet is maintained by the Geth developer team. 

How big is the Ropsten testnet?

As of May 2022, there are approximately 12.3 million blocks on the Ropsten testnet and developers have executed roughly 230 million transactions to date. 

The block time on the Ropsten testnet is below 30 seconds and 15 miners have governance power, with 1 possessing 94.5% hashpower. 

The maximum block gas limit stands at 50,000. This represents the highest price a cryptocurrency will distribute when a smart contract is executed or a transaction is sent on the Ethernet blockchain. 

Currently, the gas price is about 146,602 Gwei with an average burn of 23.66 Gwei per block. To date, ~113,440 ETH has been burned on the Ropsten testnet. 

If you are interested in learning more about the latest updates on the testnet, visit the Ropsten testnet explorer. 

Why do developers use the Ropsten testnet?

Developers use the Ropsten testnet because it best mimics the production environment of the Ethereum mainnet, which is based on a PoW mechanism, and to prepare for the upcoming Ethereum mainnet merge.

Miners on the Ropsten test network have a financial incentive to maintain the testnet itself given its resemblance to the mainnet. Moreover, the testnet provides useful information pertaining to the certain issues that are faced on the mainnet, such as the relationship between gas prices and uncle block rates. It is also useful for decentralized application development as Ropsten provides realistic tests of both back-end and front-end performance.  

In February 2017, the tesnet experienced a denial-of-service (DoS) attack where spam blocks were inserted onto the network and were slow to process, requiring a great deal of CPU, time, and memory. This attack on Ropsten meant that connecting an Ethereum client to the Ropsten testnet was not only slow but also consumed excessive disk space as the attack added 10 GBs of bloat to the distributed database. 

In this instance, the Ropsten testnet demonstrated a vulnerability to spam attacks, indicating instability and unreliability. The Ropsten network was revived with new security provisions to combat similar threats in the future. No serious incident on the testnet has been reported since then. 

What will happen to the Ropsten testnet after the Merge?

The Ropsten testnet will merge around June 8-9, 2022 when the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) of 50000000000000000 is reached and will no longer be updated (i.e. it will be deprecated). Instead, Ethereum recommends developers use the Sepolia and Goerli testnets, which are also set for trial merges. While the Sepolia testnet is a PoW testnet, the Goerli tesnet is a proof-of-authority testnet that can work across different clients.

This Ropsten testnet merge is an important testing milestone in anticipation of the Ethereum merge, when the mainnet will merge with the beacon chain PoS system.  In effect, the Ropsten testnet merge simulates the eventual merger on the mainnet. 

Marking the end of PoW for the Ethereum network, the Merge will ensure a full transition to a PoS consensus. This consensus mechanism will reduce the need for energy-intensive mining activity. It will also help facilitate user participation in securing the overall network, which further promotes decentralization, and it will augment crypto-economic security relative to the PoW model. 

Nevertheless, switching to a PoS model presents the following disadvantages:

• The PoS consensus model is newer compared to the PoW model 
• End-users need to run more pieces of software on the PoS model which involves an execution layer and a consensus layer (formerly known as ETH2)
• PoS implementation is more complex than PoW 

Where can I get test ETH since Ropsten faucets are deprecated?

Historically, developers could request testnet ETH on the Ropsten testnet using a Ropsten faucet, but because the network will no longer be supported, it is recommended to use other testnets and faucets such as Kiln and Goeli to test dApps on Ethereum.

The two recommended testnets and faucets are Kiln, which reflects most closely the post-merge development environment on Ethereum, and Goerli which is a PoA test network.

To support Web3 developers, Alchemy maintains a Kiln faucet and a Goerli faucet, both of which provide extra fake ETH when users sign up for a free Alchemy account.

An Ethereum faucet enables developers to obtain testnet ETH, which has no real-world value.

Developers can use this testnet ETH for experimentation purposes on a decentralized application or protocol prior to deployment on the mainnet where financial risks are real.

Saying Goodbye to the Ropsten Testnet

The Ropsten testnet provided a tremendous amount of value to Ethereum developers since it’s launch in 2017 all the way through the upcoming Ropsten merge. 

From giving developers a safe testing environment for building applications, to helping core developers plan and test for the upcoming mainnet merge, the Ropsten testnet has been a key piece of web3 infrastructure that many web3 developers 

Dimensions Network’s faucet, which was mentioned in our testnet overview article. Developers need to simply input their Ropsten testnet wallet address and verify their humanity via an hCaptcha challenge-response test. After initializing an account on a Web3 wallet such as Metamask, developers can both send and receive Ropsten ETH. 

Using the Dimensions Network faucet, developers receive 1 Ropsten ETH per request. Requests should be fulfilled in between 2 and 5 minutes depending on the traffic. The gas limit is 400,000 and approximately 52.5 million ETH is left in the faucet. 

Aside from requesting Ropsten testnet ETH, developers can also use their computers for mining activity. Since the mining difficulty on the Ropsten testnet is lower than the mainnet, developers can mine Ropsten ETH using the support of an Ethereum client such as Geth and Besu.