Ethereum Sets Bellatrix Upgrade And Terminal Total Difficulty Values In Preparation For Final Merge Event

Ethereum developers have scheduled the parameters for Bellatrix and Paris upgrades to be met during the upcoming network merge.

The long-awaited Ethereum Merge event is finally here. The merge is expected to usher in the era of PoS (Proof-of-Stake) system model on Ethereum 2.0. This follows a plan by Ethereum to move away from the energy-intensive PoW (Proof-of-Work) operating model.

According to a blog post sent out by Ethereum’s team, the merge event will happen in two phases, namely the Bellatrix upgrade followed by the Paris upgrade. The Paris upgrade is the ultimate event that will trigger the fork. However, each of the two upgrades will only happen after specific parameters are met. All public testnets have been successfully updated ahead of the merge slated for September.

The Bellatrix Upgrade

For the merge event to properly execute, it must first be deployed on Ethereum’s Beacon Chain with the Bellatrix upgrade. The Bellatrix upgrade is expected to occur on the Beacon Chain at epoch 144896 early on September 6.

The Paris Upgrade

Next will be the Paris upgrade, otherwise known as the Terminal Total Difficulty value, to be reached in order to trigger the hard fork that will usher in the Merge. This value is set at 58750000000000000000000 and is expected to be reached between September 10 and 20. In simple words, the TTD is the difficulty level of solving a problem that miners have to deal with to win a block reward. More miners on the network mean higher TTD due to competition. The vice versa is true.

Once the TTD value is achieved, the Beacon Chain validator will finalize the current block, after which the Merge event will be considered complete.