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OpenEthereum support ends with the Merge fast approaching

“The usefulness has run its course,” the OpenEthereum team wrote regarding its popular software, “we look forward to the next phase of clean, green and massively scalable blockchain infrastructure.”

One of the most popular Ethereum (ETH) clients, OpenEthereum has ended support for its software in preparation for the upcoming Ethereum Merge.

OpenEthereum creates “clients” or software used to interact with the Ethereum network allowing anyone to create an Ethereum node to mine the cryptocurrency which is currently using a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

In a Twitter thread the OpenEthereum team explained that with the Merge approaching and the legacy codebase becoming “increasingly difficult to manage” due to its age that it was the right time to end support.

The project was formerly owned by blockchain infrastructure company Parity Technologies before it transitioned ownership to the OpenEthereum decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in December 2019.

At the time Parity wrote they wanted to ensure the codebase is “maintained and lives on for as long as the community finds it useful,” OpenEthereum wrote:

“The usefulness has run its course, and we look forward to the next phase of clean, green and massively scalable blockchain infrastructure.”

The OpenEthereum team wrote that “well documented” clients were required to “navigate the upcoming Merge and successful shift to proof-of-stake (PoS),” directing users to change clients to other providers such as Nethermind or Erigon.

Related: Core Ethereum developer details changes to expect after the Merge

The Merge is the name for the planned upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain which will merge the existing proof-of-stake Beacon Chain launched in December 2020 into the current proof-of-work main net which validates transactions on the network.

The planned upgrade has seen constant delays since first proposed in 2016 and initially had a deployment date of 2019. It was believed the Merge would happen in mid-2022 but delays occurred in April.

Due to the upcoming Repsten testnet merge Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon said last week the upgrade would happen in August 2022 “if everything goes to plan.”

SWIFT Plans to Launch CBDC Interconnection System in Next Two Years

Client malfunction brings down Ethereum’s most popular block explorer

Etherscan and OpenEthereum are stuck on one block shortly after Berlin hard fork.

The OpenEthereum client for Ethereum, formerly known as the Parity client, is reportedly malfunctioning for a number of users on Thursday afternoon UTC, including the popular block explorer Etherscan.

According to multiple user reports on GitHub, the OpenEthereum client has been stuck on block 12,244,294, or just 294 blocks after the Berlin hard fork was executed. The error message seems to indicate that the client is rejecting the new blocks, thinking that its state Merkle root is invalid.

The issue seems to be only affecting OpenEthereum nodes, with the more popular Geth functioning as normal. Issues with the OpenEthereum client resulted in an outage on Etherscan, the popular block explorer. Its homepage shows block 12,244,294 as the last block to be mined, even though other explorers are updating correctly.

It is still unclear what caused the issue, with the team currently working on diagnosing and fixing the problem. Until that happens, Etherscan will remain unusable.

As the issue only affects OpenEthereum, the Ethereum blockchain itself and many service providers, such as Infura, continue to be working correctly. Unlike the previous consensus bug, there is no alternative chain with its own transactions this time. Given the timing with the Berlin hard fork, it appears likely that some of its changes were implemented incorrectly.

The story is developing.

SWIFT Plans to Launch CBDC Interconnection System in Next Two Years