The long-awaited Ethereum ‘Merge’ is on the way, and could arrive even sooner than originally planned, according to a blog post by the Ethereum Foundation.

The announcement said the upgrade will be completed between 10th and 20th September.

Ethereum, the network behind the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, will shift from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake blockchain in September, referred to as ‘The Merge’.

Several launch dates have been mooted by developers over the past few months for the ETH 2.0 upgrade, Decrypt reports.

Yet on Wednesday, the Ethereum Foundation announced: “Following years of hard work, Ethereum’s proof-of-stake upgrade is finally here! The successful upgrade of all public testnets is now complete, and The Merge has been scheduled for the Ethereum mainnet.” 

The Ethereum Foundation’s blog post added that the upgrade, which will be carried out in two stages – known as “Bellatrix” and “Paris” – will take place on 6th September and then between 10th and 20th September, respectively.

As it stands Ethereum uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism, requiring miners to validate transactions and maintain the network’s security. Yet proof-of-stake, rather than using miners, uses validators who ‘stake’ or lock-up Ethereum to keep the network secure.

Moving to proof-of-stake will make Ethereum “99% more energy efficient” according to the Foundation, and the blockchain’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin recently highlighted that there are several more upgrades on the cards.

The Ethereum Foundation added: “Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake has been a loooong time coming. 

“Thank you to everyone who contributed to researching, specifying, developing, analyzing, testing, breaking, fixing, or explaining everything that got us to The Merge.”