Unsurprisingly, the testnet version of Ethereum’s much-anticipated 2.0 upgrade has attracted a lot of attention, heralding the arrival of proof-of-stake.

In brief:

Following its launch on April 18, the number of active validators on the Ethereum 2.0 testnet is closing on 20,000.
The Topaz testnet uses the same configuration planned for Ethereum 2.0’s launch.
Among other things, the network will test the Phase 0 proof-of-stake protocol implementation.

The number of validators on the Ethereum 2.0 testnet has reached almost 20,000 today—just days after the first (genesis) block was successfully mined and validated on April 18.

According to blockchain explorer Etherscan, there are currently 18,491 active validators on the Ethereum 2.0 test network, with an additional 1,136 marked as “pending” at the time of writing.

What is the Ethereum 2.0 testnet?

The Ethereum 2.0 Topaz testnet was launched on April 16 by Prysmatic Labs, an engineering team working on the Ethereum 2.0 technical infrastructure, replacing the previous Sapphire test network.

One of the key goals for Topaz is to test the Phase 0 proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol implementation on Ethereum 2.0, to which the network will eventually transfer from the current computationally-intensive proof-of-work consensus mechanism.

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https://decrypt.co/26100/ethereum-2-0-testnet-reaches-almost-20000-validators-in-just-two-days

Italy’s top news reporting agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata announced Monday the development of a unique news tracking system based on distributed ledger blockchain technology in collaboration with EY Advisory S.p.A., part of Ernst & Young Global Ltd.

ANSA is a leading Italian news agency that represents 24 publishers of major newspapers across Italy. The agencies of ANSA transmit more than 3,500 news and more than 1,500 photos a day to the Italian media, national institutions and international organizations.

With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, which has exceeded 1.3 million positive cases, a raft of fake narratives and mythology about the disease also accompanies those cases. “In recent days, we witnessed the frequent fraudulent use of our brand to give truth to false news,” said Stefano de Alessandri, chief executive of ANSA.

With this application of blockchain technology, which can be used to record cryptographic proof of the origin of information in a tamperproof ledger, news agencies will be able to put out articles that include proof the document is unchanged and provide verification of sources.

Using the ANSAcheck news tracking label, which is supported by EY’s OpChain Traceability technology, readers will be able to trace the history and source of each news item. This also means that reposted or altered news using ANSA’s labels will be easily distinguished from authentic reporting. The news agency envisions readers using this to continue to depend on what ANSA believes distinguishes it from other reporting.

“We are therefore particularly proud to be the first to launch a highly innovative project, carried out for all our readers and the clients of the Agency,” said de Alessandri. “Starting today, we can track the origin of the news and — at the same time — support the professionalism of our journalists. This is an important step in the fight against fake news.”

The EY OpsChain Traceability blockchain technology uses the Ethereum blockchain, a public chain second only to the blockchain underlying bitcoin. Ethereum, in particular, focuses on business needs and smart contracts, which are used by developers to create distributed applications.

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https://siliconangle.com/2020/04/07/italys-top-news-org-turns-blockchain-ensure-trust-covid-19-reporting/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethereum-network/

David Hoffman, Mariano Conti, Preston Van Loon, Trent Van Epps, Justin Leroux and Andrew (cyber_hokie) hoped on a livestream with us to talk about a variety of Ethereum topics. We discussed the coronavirus impact on global and crypto markets. Then we hoped in to the current state of Eth2 as well as what's on the horizon. We also talked about crypto narratives and if this is the time for crypto to shine as the world is printing money and finally we wrapped up with some talk about DeFi.

https://podcast.ethhub.io/into-the-ether-livestream-coronavirus-impact-on-markets-eth2-progress-money-printing-and-defi