The Ethereum team will migrate the Goerli testnet to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm when the cumulative network difficulty (TTD) reaches 10,790,000. According to the developers, this will happen between August 6 and 12.
As with other testnets, the merger will occur in several stages. The developers have already deployed the consensus layer of the Beacon Chain blockchain – it is called Prater.
The next step is to activate the Bellatrix update, designed to prepare the latter for the merger. According to lead developer Tim Beiko, this will happen at epoch #112 260, which the network will reach on August 4 at approximately 15:24 (Kyiv/UTC).
After the merger, the updated testnet will be called Paris. Node operators need to update clients for consensus and execution levels. ETH holders do not need to take any action.
On July 6, the developers successfully migrated the Sepolia test network to the PoS algorithm. In June, a similar event took place on the Ropsten testnet.
On July 26, the team implemented the tenth and final “shadow fork” of the Ethereum mainnet. This happened 26 hours ahead of schedule as the TTD hit the threshold faster than expected.
“Shadow forks” allow developers to test certain aspects of network migration to PoS. The latest initiative aimed to explore the changes that will occur after the merger of Goerli and Prater.
