Ethereum (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, jumped 6 percent over the last 24 hours, and is currently in the $1,660 range.
This means that Ethereum the top performing asset among the top ten of the market as information taken from CoinMarketCap indicates.
The most recent price change precedes the release of the latest upgrade for Ethereum’s consensus layer known as Bellatrix. The update is scheduled for later in the day. Bellatrix is the first step in the merging event, which is the eagerly anticipated switch from the energy-hungry Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus system to a more eco green Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system.
The Ethereum Foundation explained on an earlier blog article in the last week, the merging involves two steps to be enabled by the Beacon Chain–the network’s PoS chain, which is operating in parallel to the existing PoW network. Then, it must be activated with the Bellatrix upgrade of the consensus layer that is activated by an epoch’s height.
Bellatrix is, then, is followed by Paris upgrade, which is the transition of the execution layer to PoW to PoS is triggered by a particular threshold, known as”the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD).
It is the layer responsible to ensure the integrity on the Ethereum blockchain. It is the backbone infrastructure for the blockchain. It hosts and also for checking the validity of validators, and it is the layer that executes where smart contracts as well as rules of the network reside.
The TTD value triggering the Merge is set at 58750000000000000000000 and is expected to happen between September 10 and September 20, 2022, depending on Ethereum’s hash rate or the amount of computing power deployed to secure the network. The higher the rate of hashing greater, the quicker the network will be able to hit the TDD that is required to initiate the merger.
“Once the execution layer reaches or exceeds the TTD, the subsequent block will be produced by a Beacon Chain validator,” the Ethereum Foundation published. “The Merge transition is considered complete when you have the Beacon Chain finalizes this block. In normal network conditions, this should occur two epochs (or 13 minutes) following the time that the first post-TTD block has been created.”
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Last call to make an update Ethereum clients
This Bellatrix upgrade is in essence the final chance for network operators who manage the nodes to make their customers more modern prior to the Merge.
As more than 27% of Ethereum’s nodes aren’t yet upgraded according to Ethernodes Both Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as well as chief creator Tim Beiko took to Twitter to remind node owners of the requirement.
“The merger is expected to occur between the 13th and 15th of September. Today’s news is about that it’s the Bellatrix hard fork that helps prepare the chain for the merger. It’s still important to ensure that you up-date all your customers!” wrote Buterin earlier on Tuesday.
“Last chance to upgrade your node if you haven’t yet!” Reminds Beiko this Monday.
The Ethereum Foundation warned earlier that node operators who use an older Ethereum client will see client “sync to the pre-fork blockchain once the upgrade occurs.”
“You will be stuck on an incompatible chain following the old rules and will be unable to send Ether or operate on the post-merge Ethereum network,” explained the company.
As for regular network participants who utilize Ethereum applications, storing ETH in an exchange or in a self-custodied account is not required to take any action to prepare for the Merge.
But according to the Ethereum Foundation has warned, users should be vigilant about possible frauds and ensure that additional directions or guidelines from exchanges, applications, or wallets could send users are authentic.