The Bellatrix upgrade for the Merge is all set for today. It will set the rest of the Merge process, which is days away in motion.
The price has reacted in anticipation of the final upgrade before Ethereum’s network transitions toward proof of stake.
After struggling amid strong bearish market trends, ETH’s sentiment has flipped positive as the Merge nears. The second-largest cryptocurrency has surged nearly 7% in the past 24 hours and was trading above $1,665.
Before the anticipated merge signifying the transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, one crucial step is the Bellatrix upgrade.
This requires node operators to update their clients before epoch 144896 on the Beacon Chain.
Ethereum Foundation had previously revealed that the Bellatrix upgrade would occur at 11:34:47am UTC on September 6, while the Merge itself will happen somewhere around September 13-15.
Ether nodes data show that 72.9% of nodes have been marked “Ready” for the Merge, while the rest, 27.1%, are still “Not-Ready.” If the node operators do not update their Eth clients before the upgrade, they will be stuck on the incompatible chain.