The deposit contract for Ethereum 2.0 has hit 60% of its target.

315,616 ETH has been deposited to the contract at the time of writing, equating to roughly 60% of the minimum target of 524,288 ETH. The contract needs 16,384 validators to deploy as planned, with ETH holders must deposit a minimum of 32 ETH to participate.

At 524,288 ETH, genesis can occur, leading to the deployment of the long-awaited Beacon chain.

The deployment time is slated for 12 pm UTC on Dec. 1, but it will only ship as planned if the contract hits the minimum seven days in advance. That means it still needs another 208,672 ETH in the next 24 hours to deploy on time.

Ethereum 2.0, also dubbed Serenity, has been a hugely anticipated event for some time. Uptake to join its Phase 0 genesis, though, has been relatively slow. The deposit contract went live on Nov. 4, but it had only met around 10% of its target within the first week. Still, recent data shows that the number of Ethereum addresses holding 32 ETH is at an all-time high, possibly because users are preparing for the upgrade.

Moreover, with a significant boost in deposits over the weekend, it’s looking increasingly likely that Ethereum 2.0 will ship before 2020 is out.

The Beacon chain is designed to bring proof-of-stake (PoS) to Ethereum. It’s a process that enables validators to earn ETH as a reward for providing security to the network, rather than rewarding miners as with a proof-of-work (PoW) system.

One reason for the slow initial uptake for phase 0 might be the technical difficulties associated with becoming a validator. The entry price is likely another high barrier for many people. ETH surged towards $600 over the weekend, meaning a full 32 ETH validator is currently worth around $19,000.

In addition to the heightened interest in Bitcoin over the last few weeks, speculation surrounding Ethereum 2.0 could be a key driving force for the price surge.

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been one of the key voices readying the community for the event. He went as far as depositing 3,200 ETH into the contract, possibly as a tactic to encourage other holders to join.

The #eth2 deposit contract has reached more than half of its target (currently at ~278000 ETH deposited), with the bulk of the deposits taking place in the last three days!https://t.co/yqy87eMafV

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 22, 2020

With the Nov. 24 cut-off looming, there’s been some debate across the Ethereum community about preparing for the genesis launch.

Eric Conner, a prominent Ethereum supporter, posted a Github thread proposing a maximum deployment date if the minimum deposit isn’t reached on time. Several Ethereum developers joined the discussion, though no new date has yet been announced.

I'm suggesting that we add a maximum genesis date of December 15th for eth2 launch, removing the reliance on the minimum deposit amount of 524,288 ETH.https://t.co/D9AV6y6UYF

— Eric Conner (@econoar) November 17, 2020

Ethereum 2.0 has been regarded as one of the biggest crypto events of the year. If the contract falls short of 524,288 ETH in the next 24 hours, genesis will occur seven days after the point the threshold is reached.

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