The Merge will be launched around 15 September

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the long-awaited Ethereum Merge update is likely to take place around 15 September 2022. 

Vitalik Buterin and 15 September as the estimated launch date for the Merge

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has stated that the long-awaited Merge update on the Ethereum blockchain, which would turn it into Proof-of-Stake (PoS), will take place around 15 September 2022. 

The terminal total difficulty has been set to 58750000000000000000000.

This means the ethereum PoW network now has a (roughly) fixed number of hashes left to mine.https://t.co/3um744WkxZ predicts the merge will happen around Sep 15, though the exact date depends on hashrate. pic.twitter.com/9YnloTWSi1

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 12, 2022

“The terminal total difficulty has been set to 58750000000000000000000. This means the ethereum PoW network now has a (roughly) fixed number of hashes left to mine. https://bordel.wtf predicts the merge will happen around Sep 15, though the exact date depends on hashrate”.

The estimated date of 15 September is derived from the fixed hashrate number, set at 587500000000000000000000000, which, according to bordel.wtf statistics, which were reported by Buterin, is expected to fall right in mid-September. 

Tim Beiko also confirms the Merge date

Buterin merely confirmed what other Ethereum developers had already announced after the latest Goerli testnet that saw a successful transition to Proof-of-Stake. 

Indeed, Goerli was the final testnet after Ropsten in June and Sepolia in July, representing the one before the official launch, which is expected to take place in a month. 

Tim Beiko, head of the Ethereum Foundation team, had also confirmed the update in a tweet:

58750000000000000000000

— Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth ? (@TimBeiko) August 11, 2022

587500000000000000000000000 refers to the difficulty required to extract the last Ethereum Proof-of-Work (PoW) block, after which, the network will deactivate the PoW to switch to PoS. 

Vitalik Buterin and the effects of Ethereum’s Merge update

In an interview, Buterin said that the Merge will not be “appreciated” by the market and the crypto industry until we see the real effects that represent its added value. 

Buterin talked about the price of ETH + Merge, which might not turn out to be a bullish trend right away, just like the environmental and sustainability effects, which will only be visible after its full implementation. 

Meanwhile, the price of ETH touched $2,000 this past week, something that has not happened since last May 2022. At the time of writing, however, the price of ETH is $1871.