Ethereum’s Final Testnet Merge Goes Live on Goerli as POS Transition Inches Closer

The Ethereum team has successfully completed the network’s third and final testnet merge exercise dubbed Goerli, laying a solid foundation for the blockchain’s transition from its current proof-of-work (PoW) to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm expected to happen in September 2022.

Ethereum’s Goerli Testnet Live 

In another significant development for Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency and smart contracts blockchain network in the world, the development team has successfully launched the Goerli testnet, which is the project’s third and final dress rehearsal before the transition to the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm next month.

Per sources close to the latest development, the Goerli testnet went live at exactly 9:45 p.m ET on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Sources say the Goerli testnet merge was not entirely hitch-free, as hiccups were experienced along the way.

Ethereum developer, Marius Van Der Wijden tweeted:

“And we finalized on goerli. There was some confusion on the network because of two different terminal blocks and lots of non-updated nodes, so we didn’t finalize earlier. We’re still looking into what’s happening, but so far it looks quite good.”

With the successful execution of the Goerli testet, the exact timing of the Ethereum mainnet PoS merge event will be further discussed by the core developers, however, the transition is expected to happen before the end of 2022.

More Hurdles to Scale 

Just like the world’s flagship cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), the Ethereum network currently uses the proof-of-work consensus algorithm, where miners complete computational puzzles to confirm transactions on the blockchain. 

While bitcoin maximalists argue that the proof of work (PoW) consensus algorithm remains the best out of the plethora of consensus mechanisms currently in existence,  the massive energy consumption associated with PoW-based mining operations has been a subject of serious debate across various quarters.

The Ethereum move to the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm was kickstarted in 2020 when the development team launched the PoS Beacon Chain. 

According to the team, PoS will bring numerous improvements to Ethereum including better energy efficiency, as there will be no need to use large amounts of electricity and expensive hardware to validate transactions and create new blocks.

Other improvements the team says will come with the transition to PoS include centralization and 51 percent attack risk reduction.

Despite the numerous benefits and improvements that the transition to PoS is expected to bring to Ethereum, some members of the community have made their intentions to remain on the current PoW network known, and as such, it’s likely we’ll see a forked version of Ethereum based on PoW in the coming weeks or months.

So far, a good number of projects in the blockchain space have signaled their support for the upcoming Ethereum Merge, while centralized exchanges such as Changpeng Zhao’s Binance and Poloniex have made it clear that they may support the tokens that will be birthed if another Ethereum hard fork eventually occurs.

At press time, the price of ether (ETH) is trading around $1,885, a more than 10 percent increase in the last 24 hours.