The Ethereum mainnet is just one testnet merge away from officially moving to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. After multiple shadow forks and testnet mergers, the journey of years has reached the final stage with the announcement of the final testnet merger to the Beacon chain.
The transition to PoS began in December 2020 with the launch of the Beacon chain, kicking off phase 0 of the three-phase process. Phase 1, the current one, was scheduled to be completed in 2021. However, due to numerous delays and unfinished work by the developers, it is expected to be finished by the third week of September. The final phase of the transition is planned for the end of 2023.
The main developer of Ethereum, Tim Beiko, announced on Twitter the details of the Goerli testnet transition. The Goerli testnet will be merged with the Beacon chain called Prater and the combined Goerli/Prater network will retain the Goerli name after the merger.
Goerli/Prater Merge Announcement
Prater will run through the Bellatrix upgrade on August 4th, and merge with Goerli between August 6-12th: if you run a node or validator, this is your last chance to go through the process before mainnet https://t.co/JAz5AJe12B
—Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) July 27, 2022
Goerli/Prater merger announcement
Prater will run the Bellatrix update on August 4th and will merge with Goerli between August 6th and 12th – if you run a node or validator, this is your last chance to go through the process before mainnet.
The testnet merger will be completed in two phases beginning on August 4th with the Bellatrix update at the consensus layer. The Bellatrix update will activate at the epoch height of 112260.
The Ethereum PoS network works on epochs instead of blocks, where an epoch is a set of up to 32 blocks.
The second phase of the upgrade will be called Paris, where the execution layer will go from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake. This phase is expected to be completed between August 6 and 12. The Paris update will trigger with a specific Total Terminal Difficulty (TTD) of 10790000. Once the execution layer crosses the TTD threshold, the next block will be produced solely by a PoS validator.
The official announcement notes that the upcoming Goerli merger will be different from the first testnet integration as node operators have to update both their consensus layer and execution layer clients on a regular basis. together, instead of just one of the two. The developer team has also shipped numerous versions of clients compatible with the Merge testnet.
The upcoming final testnet merger will only affect node operators and testnet participants; Ether (ETH) holders and stakers will not have to make any changes on their part. The testnet merger will be the last rehearsal before the Ethereum mainnet officially merges with the Beacon chain on September 19. However, the date of the perpetual merger could see a change depending on the outcome of the Goerli testnet.
The transition to PoS of the Ethereum network is being timed as the biggest upgrade of the blockchain network since its inception. The update focuses on increasing scalability by introducing sharding and reducing high transaction costs. However, most of the scalability features are expected to be integrated after the completion of the final phase of the transition, which is expected in the second half of 2023.
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