The Ethereum puncture support engineer from the Ethereum Foundation announced the expected date for the merger of the test network with the main network and the transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.
Tim Beiko has tweeted out a timeline for Ethereum to move from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). According to the document, the merger of Ethereum with the test blockchain is scheduled for September 19, 2022. The specialist warned that the forecasts are based on the data he received at the PoS Developers Conference.
“This merge timeline isn’t final, but it’s very interesting to see what it adds up to. Please consider this as a planning schedule and stay tuned for official announcements!” Beiko proclaimed.
The merger will allow Ethereum to get away from the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism used, for example, by Bitcoin, the developer says. In addition to reducing blockchain power consumption by 99.95%, some Proof-of-Stake proponents are waiting for switching mechanisms to provide security and scaling benefits. Today’s PoW mechanism, by which miners compete for network security by solving complex computational puzzles, is the consensus algorithm that protects Bitcoin, but it is criticized for its high energy costs, says the Ethereum Foundation.
Getting rid of PoW has been on the Ethereum Foundation roadmap since the network was first launched in 2015, but engineering difficulties have led to the fact that the transition to the conditional “Ethereum 2.0” has been delayed for several years. The merger is not expected to reduce Ethereum’s relatively high fees and slow transaction rates, but will have a significant direct impact on network power consumption.
In June, Ethereum developers announced the successful transition of the Ropsten test network to the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm. Now, not miners, but validators are responsible for confirming operations.
