Ethereum Mainnet Merging with Proof-of-Stake Beacon Chain will happen next month.
The third and final testnet network (testnet) merges before the Ethereum blockchain makes its long-awaited transition to proof of stake from proof of work successfully completed.
- Goerli was the last of the three to run through a Unification “dress rehearsal”. After that, mainnet consolidation is expected to happen at the end of September.
- The network converts to proof of stake (PoS) when Total End-to-End Difficulty (TTD) exceeds 10,790,000. That happened around 1:45 UTC.
- On July 27, Ethereum announced the upgrade of Bellatrix to Goerli’s beacon chain, Prater, in preparation for testnet consolidation. After the Bellatrix beacon chain was activated on August 4, all that remained was for it to merge with Goerli, so that the testnet could continue to run on the PoS chain.
- The testnet merger brings the project one step closer to the Ethereum mainnet upgrade later this year.
- The previous two testnet mergers, Ropsten and Sepolia, have also been largely successful, raising the Ethereum community’s confidence that a true Merge will be possible this year.
