ETH Developer Reveals Target Date For Important “Merger”
The long-awaited Ethereum 2.0 could be released as soon as this summer if an ETH core developer is to be believed. Speaking at the Permissionless conference, Preston Van Loon said there was much hope the project would be finished in the next three months.
"As far as we know, if everything goes to plan, August—it just makes sense," said Van Loon. "If we don't have to move [the difficulty bomb], let's do it as soon as we can."
The Ethereum Foundations Justin Drake, also spoke on the panel, mentioning a "strong desire to make this happen before [the] difficulty bomb in August," according to a tweet from event co-host Bankless.
Drake and Van Loon are referring to an event called The Merge. It is the event that will happen when the current Ethereum blockchain merges with the new proof-of-stake beacon chain. The merger will see the current mining network, where individuals use powerful PCs for the chance to earn ETH, to staking where holders can deposit their funds in exchange for rewards.
August isn't just some random month either. In May Ethereum developers agreed to delay the "difficulty bomb," which will soon degrade the network. It's a feature implemented into the blockchain code to help slow down the network. The purpose is to discourage developers from staying on the proof-of-work chain when the blockchain pushes to proof of stake.
Popular coins like Bitcoin are Proof of Work meaning they’re generated by using machines competing to solve complex problems to “mine” coins and digital assets. Proof of Stake works differently by choosing from a pool of people holding the Proof of Stake coin. A Proof of stake “Validator Node” can be added to the pool by staking coins for a certain period of time giving Proof of Stake “Validators” a source of income without needing powerful mining hardware. It's also referred to as a consensus mechanism that rewards users for validating on the blockchain.
Many developers in the community have been waiting on this merger, most giving up on commenting on it due to it being hard to pinpoint the release, but with these comments, some ETH hopefuls could go to sleep a little bit more excited.