In roughly 65 days, there’s a chance Ethereum’s highly anticipated transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), otherwise known as The Merge, could be implemented. The information was shared via “a planning timeline” on Twitter, which noted the shift from PoW to PoS could happen on September 19. The source stemmed from Ethereum Beacon chain community director, Superphiz, who further stressed that The Merge “timeline isn’t final,” and that people should “look out for official announcements.”
Ethereum Beacon Chain Community Director Superphiz Shares a ‘Planning Timeline’ That Specifies a Date for The Merge
The Ethereum (ETH), supporters, and all crypto communities, have waited a while for developers to complete the PoW-to-PoS transition. There have been some improvements to the network, which allow for a more seamless transition. For instance, part of The Merge process started with the implementation of the network’s Beacon chain, an Ethereum PoS chain that runs parallel with the Ethereum PoW chain.
The Beacon chain shipped the day after December 20, 2020. Statistics from the ETH 2.0 contract indicate that there’s roughly 13.1 million ETH locked today. A deposit of 32 ETH must be made in order to begin the staking process. There are currently 395762 validators.
The Merge will force PoW miners who use the Ethash algorithm to mine Ethereum Classic (ETC) when it is implemented. Despite the change in direction, ether miners continued to devote hashrate towards the ETH network. On June 4, block height 14.902,285, hashrate surpassed all records. That day the hashrate reached 1.32 petahash/second (PH/s), 1,320 terahash/second (TH/s).
According to metrics.coinwarz.com, today’s global Ethereum hashrate sits at 968.75 T/s. Roughly around the same time 13 million ETH was deposited into the ETH 2.0 contract, Ethereum developers decided to delay the network’s difficulty bomb via the Gray Glacier update.
The Merge will not take place until September 2022, despite previous hints that it might happen as early as August. Superphiz was the Ethereum Beacon community director. shared what he called a “planning timeline” on Twitter and said it was something he thought was “extremely exciting” to see coming together.
The Twitter timeline Superphiz posted contains specific dates for client releases and an estimated date when The Merge will occur. Despite the date, Superphiz also said “this merge timeline isn’t final” and the developer further underscored that people should “regard this as a planning timeline and look out for official announcements.” The document called “PoS Implementers’ Call #91 – 2022-07-14” says the “suggested” timeline for discussion would go as follows:
- Goerli/Prater clients release 27th and 28th July.
- Announcement 28th/29th.
- Prater Bellatrix, August 8th
- Goerli merges on the 11th.
- ACD 18th August plan mainnet Merge:
- Bellatrix, September early
- Two weeks later, merge (week of September 19th).
There is a difference between fresh and aged cheese
A number of Ethereum supporters liked Superphiz’s tweet and one individual wrote “great timing if true.” Ethereum developer Tim BeikoYou can also see it here responded to Superphiz’s tweet with a screenshot of a comment he made on the research and development (R&D) Discord server.
In the screenshot, a person wrote: “So we have these extremely soft, changeable targets of Goerli merge on August 11th and Mainnet merge in [the] week of Sept. 19th.” Beiko replied in the R&D Discord server by saying: “If I had to use textures, I’d say to treat Goerli as aged cheddar (not parmesan) and mainnet as burrata.”
The Merge may take place on September 19, 2022. Ethereum will transition from the PoW model towards a PoS network eventually. Of course, there’s a possibility The Merge will not happen on the day specified in the planning timeline, and the shift from PoW to PoS will be delayed.
How do you feel about Ethereum possibly implementing The Merge in September? Comment below to share your thoughts.
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