Potential September Date Set for Ethereum's Merge�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

In September, it appears even more likely that Ethereum will undergo a major overhaul called Merge� During Thursday's Consensus Layer call, Ethereum developers discussed potential dates for the long-awaited Merge, when the Ethereum blockchain moves from proof-of-work to proof-ofstake�

During the call, Ethereum developers discussed several scenarios for when the Merge might occur on the Ethereum mainnet� The most likely dates are Sept� 15, 16, or 20�

It was decided that the Bellatrix upgrade would go live around Sept� 6, 2022, according to most of the developers� The Bellatrix upgrade will start the Merge process and set everything into motion�

There will be a 14-day gap between the Bellatrix upgrade and the mainnet Merge� When the network reaches a specific total terminal difficulty (TTD), the Merge will be activated� As described in the document, the first scenario began with a Bellatrix upgrade on Sept� 1, followed by the Merge two weeks later on (or around) Sept� 15� In the second scenario, Bellatrix would be upgraded on Sept� 6, and The Merge would take place on (or around) Sept� 20� The second scenario seems more likely given that Sept� 6 is the preferred Bellatrix upgrade date�

A compromise was discussed among developers to speed up hashrates, so if Bellatrix takes effect on Sept� 6, the Merge could take place around Sept� 16� On the All-Core Developers call next week, developers will re-discuss these dates and estimations as they don't want the Merge to take place on a weekend�

A review of the Goerli testnet merger

The Goerli testnet merge, which occurred at 01:45 UTC on Thursday morning, was briefly discussed at the beginning of the call� Despite a brief drop in the participation rate, developers believe it was a successful merger and that the network is healthy� The drop in participation was due to configuration issues, according to Ethereum developer Parithosh Jayanthi�

Due to two terminal blocks, Parithosh explained, the fork was able to resolve itself after about 128 slots due to an optimistic sync mode, which allows for the chain to sync up after about 128 slots� "After fixing the configuration issue, the remaining % came back online� We're now at 84%," said Parithosh�

Since December 2020, Ethereum has been testing the transition to proof-ofstake� Among the three public testnets, Goerli was the last to run through its own merge rehearsal successfully�

Because the proof-of-stake protocol reduces energy consumption by 99�99% due to the Merge, Ethereum will become more energy efficient. After the merger, scalability issues will be addressed� Ethereum will not complete this project�