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 Manager Superphiz Shares a “Planning Timeline” Which Specifies a Date for the Merger
Ethereum (ETH) proponents and the crypto community in general have long been waiting for developers to finalize the transition from a PoW to a PoS consensus model. Amid the wait, there have been a few changes to the network that allow for a smoother transition. For example, part of The Merge process began with the implementation of the network’s Beacon Chain, an Ethereum PoS chain that runs alongside the Ethereum PoW chain.
The Beacon chain was shipped on the first day of December 2020. Statistics from the ETH 2.0 contract indicate that there’s roughly 13.1 million ETH locked today. In order to stake ether using the PoS system, a deposit of 32 ETH is required to start the staking process and, at the time of writing, there are 395,762 validators.
When The Merge is officially implemented, PoW miners using the Ethash algorithm will be forced to mine a different blockchain like Ethereum Classic (ETC). Despite this upcoming change, ether miners continued to dedicate the hashrate to the ETH network and on June 4, at a block height of 14,902,285, the hashrate hit an all-time high. On that day, the hashrate reached 1,320 terahash per second (TH/s) or 1.32 petahash per second (PH/s).
Today, the global Ethereum hashrate is lower, coasting along at 968.75 TH/s according to coinwarz.com metrics. 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 decision meant The Merge wouldn’t happen until September 2022, although there were advance hints it could possibly happen in August. On Thursday, the community manager of the Ethereum Beacon chain, Superphiz, share what he called a “planning timeline” on Twitter and said it was something he thought would be “extremely exciting” to see come together.
The timeline Superphiz shared on Twitter does contain specific client release dates and a so-called date for The Merge to happen. 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:
- The Goerli/Prater client comes out on July 27 or 28.
- Announced on 28/29.
- Prater Bellatrix August 8
- Goerli Merge 11.
- August 18 ACD Plan Mainnet Merger:
- Bellatrix in early September;
- Merge two weeks later (week of September 19).
The Difference Between Aged and Fresh Cheese
A number of Ethereum supporters liked Superphiz’s tweet and one individual wrote “great timing if true.” Ethereum developer Tim Beiko also 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, one person wrote: “So we have these extremely soft and changing Goerli meltdown targets on August 11 and Mainnet meltdown in [the] week of September 19. Beiko responded on the R&D Discord server saying, “If I were to use textures, I’d say treat Goerli like aged cheddar (not parmesan) and mainnet like burrata.”
For now, The Merge could happen on September 19, 2022, and Ethereum will eventually transition away from the PoW model to a full PoS network. 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.
