tl;dr
Kintsugi🍵 in progress
As November commenced, the Kintsugi🍵 month-long Merge sprint kicked off! Kintsugi specifications and milestones/plans have been published, and now client teams are fully immersed in the sprint with the objective of launching a continuous testnet in the initial week of December.
The Kintsugi specifications encapsulate all the insights and minor tweaks from the Amphora interoperability. The Kintsugi November sprint is thus designed to (1) integrate the new changeset and (2) enhance and prepare Merge implementations for deployment. Kintsugi will culminate in the rollout of a stable multi-client testnet to operate throughout the December holidays and provide a foundation for Merge strategies established in January.
Client teams are presently progressing through milestones — developing features, executing tests, and conducting preliminary interop trials with other clients. Moreover, a Merge devnet is being launched weekly this month — merge-devnet-0 is the most recent.
Should you be interested in experimenting with Merge software, stay alert for client releases and testnet guidelines. We hope numerous members in the community will partake in the Kintsugi testnet after its launch in the first week of December.
Following the launch of this testnet, the pertinent EIPs and specifications will transition into a last call status wherein teams and individuals will take a final look at the changeset prior to it being frozen. Afterward, the public proof-of-work and clique testnets will experience the Merge transition in the upcoming year as teams conclude testing and gear up for the mainnet launch.
Upgrade to Arrow Glacier
Though Finalized primarily focuses on the consensus layer of Ethereum, the impending (minor) upgrade to the existing proof-of-work chain is essential for users operating validators. Around December 8, 2021, Arrow Glacier will mitigate the difficulty bomb, delaying it by several months. Refer to the Arrow Glacier Announcement for further insights into the upgrade and the related client releases.
If you manage validators, kindly upgrade your “eth1 endpoint” (PoW node) before Wednesday, December 5, 2021 to accommodate for the variability in block times. This is anticipated to be the final difficulty bomb prior to the Merge 🚀
