What does the Bellatrix upgrade mean for Ethereum?

The Bellatrix upgrade brings Ethereum’s consensus layer – the Beacon Chain that introduces the PoS mechanism to Ethereum – into a state ready to merge. The Bellatrix upgrade will occur at epoch 144896, which means a real-world time of 11:34:47 UTC on Sept. 6. Epoch is the time unit that is used on Ethereum.

What is Bellatrix?

Bellatrix is a Consensus Layer upgrade that prepares the beacon chain for The Merge. As we know, mainnet hard forks are triggered by reaching a specific block number, but on the beacon chain, there is no notion of block numbers, but there are slots.

Is Bellatrix part of the merge deterministic?

So, we can say that Bellatrix part of The Merge will be highly deterministic regarding rollout and transition. So, for Bellatrix to happen on the beacon chain, a client upgrade is required to bring the Bellatrix logic on it. It might seem that the only Consensus Layer client needs to be updated, but it's not correct.

When will 'Bellatrix' upgrade activate?

The “Bellatrix” upgrade ahead of the Ethereum merger will activate on Sept. 6, followed by the Ethereum mainnet merge between Sept.10-20, according to a blog published on Thursday by the Ethereum Foundation.