The new Proof of Work (PoW) Ethereum testnet has effectively merged in upgrading to complete Proof of Stake (PoS).  During a live stream of the event, developers affirmed that nodes were taking guidelines from an RPC call, the stakers, instead of the miners.

The Geth node will offer some green text to say as much, devs stated, affirming the transition to stakers from miners. Epochs are also finalizing with a partaking rate of over 98%. An Ethereum developer, Tim Beiko said that the network is stable, with more than 2/3rd of validators correctly finalizing. He added that although one client isn’t producing blocks consistently with devs looking into the matter, it doesn’t seem to be influencing the network.

There are already above 106,000 validators on the testnet, as well as 3.4 million testnet ETH protecting the network. That high partaking rate is because of this being the nearest thing to the real thing until the actual launch as it is very much a duplicate of the current Ethereum PoW network, the transition to a full-on stake, and the Beacon chain.

If everything goes well, the live launch is expected this June or July when Ethereum becomes deflationary depending on the latest data as the burning is running at 2,500 eths a day while the daily staking rewards are around 1,500. This implies 1,000 eths a day will be taken out of total circulation initiating this summer if the testnet resumes performing well, giving Ethereum an ‘inflation’ rate of -0.5% a year.