May 20, 2022 04:20AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
Ethereum's long-awaited migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, repeatedly postponed, looks set to occur in August. Hopefully.
Preston Van Loon, a developer of the Ethereum (ETH) network, told attendees at the Permissionless conference that the transition, known as Merge, will happen in August if all goes according to plan.
Echoing this sentiment, fellow Ethereum researcher Justin Drake said that ensuring the merge happens quickly is a top priority, sharing his "strong desire to make it happen before the August difficulty bomb."
The "trouble bomb" refers to the program coded into Ethereum's blockchain that intentionally slows down the network. It is designed to encourage the transition to PoS by making it harder for miners to fall behind on the proof-of-work (PoW) chain after the merge.
On April 11, Ethereum developer Tim Beiko announced that the merger had been delayed again. Despite the success of the "shadow fork test," Beiko stated that The Merge will not be implemented in June as planned. According to Beiko, developers must act quickly to avoid the difficulty bomb, otherwise they will have to introduce another update to delay the bomb.
The reconfirmation of the timeline comes on the heels of news this week that the Ethereum network will see a "huge testing milestone," with the Ropsten Testnet Merge being conducted on June 8. The Ropsten Testnet Merge will see the PoW test network combined with a new PoS consensus level test network. It will simulate what will happen once the actual merger between Ethereum and the Beacon Chain finally takes place and becomes a PoS network.