The Ethereum blockchain is working hard to move from the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. The process of moving from PoW to PoS is expected to end with the much-awaited merge upgrade.
Several testent upgrades are prepared for the final merge upgrade in 2020. It started with the launch of Beacon Chain which revived hopes of a blockchain that could offer near-instant transactions.
After the final testnet Goerly went live successfully, Ethereum developers estimated a merge upgrade based on hashrate and target total difficulty on September 15th.
Target total difficulty to be merged
After several Ethereum developers indicated September 15th as the date for the Ethereum merge, Vitalik Buterin came out to specify that the exact date would depend on the ETH hashrate as the total difficulty achieved was already 58,75,58%. 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000.
This was in relation to the total difficulty at the time and the average hash rate of 872.2 TH when the date of September 15th arrived.
However, the total difficulty is currently around 57,70,49,02,01,07,48,20,74,40,547, with the merge preparation being 98.21% complete.
If the current hash rate is maintained and the Bellatrix update scheduled for September 06, 2022, occurs without a hitch, the merge could begin much earlier than the announced date of September 15.