Ethereum Foundation: New Merge Target Date Might Not Be September 15

Developers indicated in a conference call on Thursday that the final Ethereum Merge date could be around September 15. However, there seems to be yet another possible twist in the upgrade timeline with a potential new Ethereum Merge date. In a latest blog, the Ethereum Foundation signaled that the estimated merge date could after all be wrongly estimated. The target date is September 15, 2022, but this estimate might have even a week of error, it said in a statement.

New Ethereum Merge Date Ann0uncement Soon?

Earlier this year in July, the developers stated that a tentative date for the final upgrade could be around September 19 subject to changes. There were hints of potential delays due to unexpected reasons. With yesterday’s confirmation of around September 15 or 16 as a target date, things looked more certain. However, another change in schedule could lead to a new Ethereum Merge date.

The network upgrade is set to happen when the terminal total difficulty (TTD) hits 5875000000000000000000. The TTD would trigger a switch for Ethereum network to a proof of stake mechanism from proof of work. In the wake of yesterday’s estimation of around September 15, the Foundation said the estimated date might have a week of error.

“The TTD is based on Proof-of-Work difficulty and is thus a bit hard to estimate precisely. The target date is September 15, 2022, but this estimate might have even a week of error.”

The Merge is set to be executed in two upgrades. The Bellatrix upgrade on the consensus layer will be followed by Paris on the execution layer.

Ethereum Core Developers Call Next Week To Reveal Exact Details

The Foundation added that the upcoming All Core Developers Call next week could fine tune the estimated date for Merge. “On this coming week’s All Core Dev call estimates will be re-checked, and the TTD will either be confirmed or a final adjustment will be made to better hit the target date.” Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading at $1,881.53, down 1.60% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

In another news, a community on Friday said it is in favor of the Ethereum fork. EthereumPow, which represents the proof of work community, along with crypto exchanges, miners, and mining machine manufacturers are against the Ethereum Classic (ETC) and favor Ethereum fork. The hard fork is inevitable, they added.