Macauley Peterson

<div id="highlights-block_6308bd1b44346" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>All testnets have been successfully merged</li>
 <li>Proof-of-work mining on Ethereum will soon be no more</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Ethereum’s Merge — years in the making as one of cryptocurrency’s most complicated endeavors yet — is moving ahead apace.



Like NASA’s Artemis 1 rocket <a href="https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar/2022/august/rocket-launch-nasa-sls-artemis-i" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on the launch pad</a> at Cape Canaveral, Florida ahead of a launch to orbit the moon, preparations for the Merge — slated for Thursday, Sept. 15 — are also in the final stages. 



The long-awaited transition from the blockchain’s founding proof-of-work transaction validating mechanism to proof-of-stake is now slated for Sept. 15. In the weeks leading up to the Merge, there’s been <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-could-happen-to-the-ether-price-following-the-merge/">a notable uptick</a> in both ether spot trading volumes and derivatives bets, wagers hinging on its outcome, as big-money traders put substantial capital behind their predictions.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Ethereum has successfully Merged the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-ropsten-testnet-successfully-merged-to-proof-of-stake/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ropston</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-steps-closer-to-pos-as-goerli-testnet-merge-goes-live/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Goerli</a> testnets, as well as 11 “<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/shadow-forks-and-testnets-the-ethereum-merge-approaches/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shadow forks</a>” — the latest of which occurred last week ahead of a meeting of the protocol’s core developers.



The final Merge-ready clients were <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2022/08/24/mainnet-merge-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unveiled</a> Tuesday by the Ethereum Foundation’s <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2022/08/24/mainnet-merge-announcement/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mainnet Merge announcement</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">.<a href="https://twitter.com/ethereum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ethereum</a>’s transition to proof-of-stake is happening 🎉 Client releases are out &#8211; update your node! First part of The Merge, Bellatrix, happens on Sept 6. Full transition ETA: Sept 15. Mark your calendar 📆! <a href="https://t.co/X0DKUmcZHJ">https://t.co/X0DKUmcZHJ</a>&mdash; Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth 🐼 (@TimBeiko) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimBeiko/status/1562418377582419968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



An Ethereum client “verifies data against the protocol rules and keeps the network secure,” the Foundation <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/nodes-and-clients" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>.



The Merge requires updates to clients both on the Beacon Chain — the new proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus layer — and the execution layer, clients that currently run decentralized applications (dapps) on the blockchain’s existing proof-of-work (PoW) mainnet.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A snag in Geth</h3>



Unlike many blockchains, the Ethereum Community deliberately encouraged multiple independent developer teams to write client software.



Even so, on the execution layer, Geth — short for <a href="https://twitter.com/peter_szilagyi/status/1562372292612587520" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Go Ethereum</a> — currently accounts for an overwhelming majority, <a href="https://ethernodes.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">75%</a>, of all Ethereum nodes. The rationale behind promoting client diversity was on display as the Geth team uncovered <a href="https://twitter.com/peter_szilagyi/status/1561947614471507968" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a critical bug</a> in what was supposed to be a Merge-ready release.



Ether declined nearly 3% in short order after news of the large security vulnerability spread Tuesday.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="698" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png" alt="Ether 10-minute chart from Aug. 23" class="wp-image-29402" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=377 377w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=383 383w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=321 321w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-18.46.20-1024x698.png?w=1232 1232w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Ether 10-minute chart from 5:10 to 6:10 UTC; Source: TradingView</figcaption></figure>



The software <a href="https://twitter.com/peter_szilagyi/status/1562369620740276224" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was quickly patched</a> and should have no adverse effect on the Merge. The Ethereum Foundation has turbo-charged <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/bug-bounty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a bug bounty program</a> through Sept. 8, earmarking up to $1 million for developers who uncover critical Merge-related bugs.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">What happens next?</h3>



The Beacon Chain is <a href="https://twitter.com/JBSchweitzer/status/1562416320611852290" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scheduled to undergo</a> an upgrade called Bellatrix on Sept. 6. That will activate the Merge transition on the PoS chain.



The PoW mainnet doesn’t have a fixed time to execute the Merge, but instead uses a scary sounding technical term — Terminal Total Difficulty — to determine when exactly the magic happens. That figure is now set, and it puts <a href="https://bordel.wtf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the best estimate</a> for the consummation of these parallel chains — known as the Paris upgrade — at shortly after 1:00 am ET on Sept. 15.



The precise time will fluctuate based on the mining hashrate between now and then. But, so far, the impending end of PoW mining on Ethereum hasn’t <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_network_hash_rate">put much of a dent</a> on its hashrate, which has remained stable between 900 and 950 terahashes per second (Th/s).



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="270" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png" alt="Ethereum mining hashrate" class="wp-image-29403" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screenshot-2022-08-25-at-19.09.57-1024x270.png?w=1848 1848w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Ethereum mining hashrate, past 30 days in terahashes per second (Th/s); Source: <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_network_hash_rate">ycharts</a></figcaption></figure>



Miners have a financial incentive to continue processing Ethereum transactions until the very last second before the Merge — so, while some winding down of mining is expected, it’s unlikely to significantly delay things.



If Artemis 1 encounters snags, it will have <a href="https://www.space.com/nasa-artemis-1-sls-moon-rocket-launch-webcasts">two further chances</a>, on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5, to pull it all off. Since this maiden voyage is uncrewed, if it also goes wrong, the only casualty is money.



Ethereum’s design gives developers more leeway to delay the Merge, if needed. A market cap of $200 billion is riding on a smooth launch.



If recent history is any guide, though, the clock will inexorably tick down toward Ethereum’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/seven-crypto-miners-show-disturbing-energy-use-lawmakers-say/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">politically palatable</a> energy-efficient future. A crypto moon mission for which <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-markets-bet-big-on-whats-next-for-ethereum-miners/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">everyone but PoW miners</a> are on board.



Update: Aug. 29 at 8:45 am ET: The Artemis I rocket launch <a href="https://twitter.com/CNET/status/1564232050684608512" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has been scrubbed</a> for today due to a technical glitch. NASA may be able to reschedule for Sept. 2, pending evaluation of current data and the severity of the problem.



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