After a series of postponements from the Ethereum developers, co-founder Vitalik Buterin has confirmed that the long-awaited Ethereum Merge could likely happen in August 2022.
Speaking at the Ethereum Shanghai Summit, Vitalik reiterated that the network is on its way to transitioning to a Proof-of-Stake (POS) chain before the “difficulty bomb” delays the protocol. If everything goes as planned, the transition will happen in August, according to the Ethereum co-founder.
He, however, added that the launch could be pushed to September or October if developers encounter any problems.
“If everything goes well, the merge will happen in the summer… And I suggest August is the possible date for this to happen. If there are no problems and of course there is always a problem, September is possible and October is possible.”
Earlier in April, Ethereum core developers revealed that the network was in its final stages of migrating to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm and that the launch would be revealed later this year.
Although the team had earlier predicted the launch to happen sometime in June before Tim Beiko, one of the developers confirmed it would no longer hold as stipulated.
Ethereum’s PoW to PoS Merge
As Ethereum developers continue to make headway on the launch of the PoS consensus layer, the team has doubled its efforts to finalize the merger.
Earlier this week, DevOps engineers submitted a Ropsten Public Testnet Merge configuration code to examine the progress of the program. The Ropsten testnet was launched by the Ethereum Foundations, a non-profit organization (NGO) that oversees the activities of the protocol.
The Prysmatic Labs’ Terence Tsao disclosed that the genesis of the testnet will kick off starting May 30 which will mark the end of the current PoW design of the network.
Beiko noted that the Ropsten merge will display the actual merge between Ethereum and the Beacon Chain as the network finally completes its transition.
The software developer also revealed on Twitter that the Ropsten testnet will be getting merged on June 8.
The Ethereum Merge simply refers to the transitioning of the Ethereum consensus algorithm to the PoS chain, which will inherently reduce the network’s outrageous energy consumption.
Ethereum will effectively utilize both consensus mechanisms until it fully migrates to the PoS chain.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the exact words of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. An earlier version misattributed to Vitalik, comments made by Preston Van Loon, another one of Ethereum’s core developers.
