Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, is urging node operators to update their clients before the Bellatrix “hard fork,” scheduled for September 6. The planned upgrade, according to Buterin, will be the last one to have the Beacon chain (a Proof-of-Stake chain) prepared for the Merge. The merge is still expected to happen around Sep 13-15. What's happening today is the Bellatrix hard fork, which *prepares* the chain for the merge. Still important though – make sure to update your clients! — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 6, 2022 The software that enables Ethereum nodes to read blocks from the blockchain and smart contracts is known as an Ethereum client. A “node” is a client program that is currently active. One must first download an Ethereum client program to operate a node. Various Ethereum client software with varying coding languages and code bases can run nodes. By upgrading their consensus layer clients before epoch 144896 on the Beacon Chain, Ethereum node operators must abide by the Bellatrix update. This critical change, which integrates the PoS chain with the current execution layer, comes just before the Merge. In total, 73.5% of node operators were Merge ready before the Bellatrix upgrade, which meant that 26.5% of node operators had not yet updated their clients. The Ethereum Foundation issued an alert that a client that remains non-updated will sync to the pre-fork blockchain. Paris Upgrade – An ...
