Ethereum Developer Says Merge Delayed Until a ‘Few Months After’ June

Tim Beiko, a leading Ethereum (ETH) developer working on the blockchain’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) – known as The Merge – has said the major network upgrade will not be completed in June.

“It won't be June, but likely in [a] few months after. No firm date yet, but we're definitely in the final chapter of [proof-of-work – PoW] on Ethereum,” Beiko wrote on Twitter.

The comment from Beiko came after an Ethereum miner on Twitter asked him if miners would be “left out to dry” as they transition to PoS – which does not require mining – moves forward.

“I would strongly suggest not investing more in mining equipment at this point,” Beiko replied the miner by saying in a thread where he also shared a new update from Ethereum core developers about the latest Merge updates.

The highly anticipated Ethereum Merge was previously expected to happen sometime between May and June this year.

Meanwhile, speculation has also emerged online that The Merge may become even more delayed than a “few months after [June]”.

Writing on a Reddit forum for Ethereum miners, one mining pool operator who said they have been “reviewing the code and running nodes on the merge testnets,” said that they “don't believe they will be ready until 2023.”

The comment from the pool operator was shared by another Reddit user in the r/CryptoCurrency forum, who added:

“It's kind of a running theme in the ETH mining community how proof of stake has been ‘almost here’ for years now, but this time it's actually true we are nearing the end.”

Meanwhile, back in February, Canada-based mining firm Hut 8 claimed that it would not be "really affected" by Ethereum’s move to PoS.

Commenting to Cryptonews.com at the time, Sue Ennis, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at the company said the Hut 8 team is “pretty close to the [Ethereum] developer community,” while adding:

“And we're hearing on the ground that proof-of-stake is so pretty far off, because it's obviously not a technology issue; it's a governance issue.”