Istanbul, The Ethereum Hard Fork Gets a Date as Ethereum 2.0 Nears

Istanbul, the long-awaited Ethereum Hard fork, has finally got a specific date. The hard fork is scheduled to occur on Dec 4, 2019, at its 9069000th block. The team led by Péter Szilágyi confirmed the date through a tweet. 

The hard fork is being developed in phases. Péter also said that Geth v1.9.7 (Quad Kicker) was out. This release will initialize the hard fork at the 9069000th block. Earlier a Görli Testnet was the latest one to be activated on 30 October. With this hard fork, Serenity, the Ethereum 2.0 transition will be complete.