Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) creator Vitalik Buterin has urged those running nodes on the blockchain to upgrade their clients before the Merge.

What Happened: In a tweet on Monday, Buterin reminded those running ETH nodes to update their clients to the required specifications even before the Merge occurs.

See Also: What Is Ethereum?

The Ethereum co-founder said that even though the Merge would officially take place between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20, the Beacon Chain hard fork would occur on Sept. 6; as such, all nodes should have their clients updated prior to the Merge to ensure a smoother transition.

A client is the software required to allow ETH nodes to read blocks on the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts, while a node is a computer network that runs the client software. 

The Bellatrix upgrade is the first phase of the Merge and is scheduled to go live on Sept. 6 at 11:34:47 a.m. UTC. 

“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 stated in a blog last week.

Price Action: At press time, ETH was trading at $1,577, up 8.78% over the last 24 hours, as per data from Benzinga Pro.