Ethereum Merge to Happen in August ‘If Everything Goes to Plan’

If developers can complete the merge to proof of stake (PoS) in August, they won’t have to worry about defusing the “difficulty bomb” that is about to go off.

 

The Merge is approaching and could come in August, according to a core developer.

 

In the Ethereum community, all eyes have been on The Merge, the eagerly-awaited and often-delayed proof-of-stake switch.

 

News is growing, which is making Ethereans hopeful that ’tis finally the time. After its first successful shadow fork a month ago, Ethereum developer Tim Beiko said The Merge would come in the few months after June. The Ethereum testnet Ropsten will merge with its own proof-of-stake chain in June, too.

 

However, the big announcement came from Preston Van Loon, a core Ethereum developer, who told attendees at the Permissionless conference that The Merge is coming in August if everything goes to plan:

 

“As far as we know, if everything goes to plan, August — it just makes sense. If we don’t have to move [the difficulty bomb], let’s do it as soon as we can.”

 

Justin Drake, another Ethereum researcher, also expressed his “strong desire to make this happen before difficulty bomb in August.” In short, Ethereum’s difficulty bomb would make the network so slow that miners would have no option but to switch to its new proof-of-stake chain.

 

The Ethereum mainchain is to merge with its new beacon chain, which will become the foundation of what was formerly known as “Ethereum 2.0.” As part of this upgrade, the beacon chain will integrate with sharded chains — in other words; it will divide the Ethereum network into multiple chains, which greatly improves throughput and transaction speed.

 

Prediction markets agree with the assessment, too. Polymarket now sees Ethereum’s Merge as an odds-on favorite to take place before September 1, and as a virtual lock to happen in 2022.

 

The long wait may soon come to a real end.