Ethereum's Merge Could Happen in August, According to Vitalik Buterin

"As far as we know, if everything goes to plan, August, it makes sense. If we don't have to move (the difficulty bomb), let's do it as soon as possible."

The difficulty bomb is a built-in feature of Ethereum's programming that will eventually slow the network down. The development team included it for two reasons: to motivate developers to strive for the proof of stake transition and to make it more difficult for miners to stay on the proof of work chain after the event.

Although the difficulty bomb has been postponed in the past to ensure that the network functions properly, the team hopes to avoid another delay this time and finish The Merge before the blockchain slows down. Another developer, Tim Beiko, already stated that The Merge would not take place in June as planned but rather a few months later.

ETH researcher Justin Drake made a similar forecast, saying he had a "strong desire to make this happen before difficulty bomb in August," repeating Van Loon's statements.

During the ETH Shanghai Summit, Vitalik Buterin reiterated this position and left room for unexpected snags, stating that The Merge may happen in September or October. The Ropsten public testnet was announced to complete The Merge in early June, marking a significant milestone on the Ethereum blockchain's path to PoS.