Ethereum developer Tim Beiko said yesterday that the highly anticipated Merge would happen between August and November, and only a catastrophic event or failure will prevent it from happening this year.
He made this statement during a conversation with Ben Edgington, who called on the developers to work faster so that the Merge could happen faster. Beiko claimed that due to the technicalities involved, it’s near impossible to give an exact date of when the Merge will happen.
“I’m just not as convinced that targeting more than a rough target, date-wise, is possible,” he said. When asked what the rough target is, he mentioned a range between late August and November unless there’s a “catastrophic event/failure/series of normal bugs.”
If we found 0 more bugs, we can probably merge in a couple months. I just don’t think that’s realistic. Also don’t think it’s likely we will find 10, or even 5?, more severe issues. Confidence shrinks exponentially within that range, though.
However, Edgington does not seem pleased with the estimate, which he claimed is “way too rough” for any planning.
Indications have also emerged that the developers are delaying Ethereum’s difficulty bomb as they are currently fixing the bugs they discovered during the Ropsten merge.
When will the merge happen?
This statement comes only a few weeks after Vitalik Buterin wrote that the Merge could happen between August and October. Buterin also pointed out that there are risks of delays.
The Merge was originally meant for June, but developers postponed it. Since then, there have been talks about when the Merge will eventually happen. However, some developers claim there’s already too much pressure on making it happen.
While there have been postponements, the process leading to the Merge is going on as planned. One of the most important testnet on Ethereum, the Ropsten testnet, completed its Merge only a few days ago, on June 8.
This followed the launch of its beacon chain on May 30. With the successful Merge of the Ropsten testnet, which shares many similarities with the Ethereum mainnet, the possibility of the merge inches closer.
According to Beiko, the Goerli testnet merge is next, and it will be the dress rehearsal before the mainnet Merge.
While many are optimistic that the Merge will happen this year, some believe all these delays are signs that it might not.
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