There was a CL call earlier where a potential target for the Merge going live was discussed: Mid June. I wanted to jump ahead of the inevitable misinformation claiming this is a hard-set date.

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At this point, there is hope that a V2 of Kintsugi testnet will be released in about 2-3 weeks. From there, client code completion is hoped in March with the a release shortly after of a 'finalized' testnet. If that testnet goes well, a mainnet launch in June should be doable, getting in front of the currently scheduled difficulty bomb that would render Ethereum useless mid-end July if not delayed.

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Things to understand:

1. This is an ESTIMATION based on the current state and understanding. There is nothing that would prevent further issues to arise that could delay this. It is very possible a severe vulnerability is discovered, a bug requiring re-architecture of certain mechanisms, or many other issues could arise. If they do arise, there will be open discussions about the impact of those issues and what that means for a main net launch. This does not mean there is a 'Delay', just a better picture of where things are.

2. No individual working on Ethereum should be held accountable for a Mid-June release at this point. That is way too far in advance for anyone to possibly plan for based on the complexity of the codebase and ecosystem. What those individuals should be held accountable for is proper communication of the immediate and near-future work they are doing. If they discover or run into issues, they must, and undoubtedly will, raise all the necessary alarms. [I am not claiming there has ever been an issue with this]

3. Please, for the love of whatever, do not spread that Mid-June is some magic hard-set date of when the Merge will go live. It is, at best, an estimate given how everything stands. People have been giving polls of when they 'think' the Merge will go live but no one has a crystal ball that can foresee every potential issue.

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Everyone is excited about this change, rightly so, and people want it out yesterday, but everyone should want a Correctly Built Merge to go live, not the one that happens to exist Mid-June.