Ethereum 2.0 is closely approaching. The blockchain project has just launched its first pre-release for phase zero of the network’s transition to the new and improved Ethereum (ETH). Yesterday, Ethereum published a new post on its Github releasing the details of the pre-release.

Ethereum 2.0

The new post explains:

“[This] marks the first release in a series of weekly releases through February 2019. Phase 0 in v0.1 is relatively feature complete and approaching stable. Subsequent changes will occur on dev branch and only merged into master during a release accompanied by a changelog.”

Ethereum 2.0 is also known as Serenity. This is the system’s final upgrade as the entire system shifts from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). The devs behind Ethereum have been steadily working on a solution to switch from PoW to PoS since 2015.

Now it seems the project has a clear plan. Serenity represents the last in a series of four stages set out in the platform’s new roadmap. Currently, the network is in its third development stage. In this stage, there were two system-wide hard forks—Constantinople and Byzantium. Both of these upgrades were to pave the way for Ethereum 2.0. Serenity’s release date is still TBD.

The latest upgrades didn’t come without issue. In Constantinople’s release, a vulnerability issue was immediately discovered and dealt with.

Ethereum 2.0 Buzz

Today marks the very first ETH2.0 version release. Congrats everyone! 🎉 https://t.co/8lh2x0TPyJ

— Terence Tsao (@terenc3t) January 31, 2019

>> IBM Blockchain Trial Successfully Completed with Mandarins

The Ethereum community is buzzing at its latest development. Even Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, responded to the buzz via his personal Twitter.

See docs. *baaasically* feature complete for Casper.

— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) January 31, 2019

In October of 2017, Casper FFG was released. The consensus model was aimed at a PoS-PoW hybrid consensus model designed to provide stronger economic finality and security.

This is big news for ETH investors and those interested in Ethereum. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $107.05 a share, up 0.13% today. The digital currency remains the third-largest cryptocurrency by total market cap, just behind XRP.