Our upgrade progress will be very fast: the first testnet to be upgraded, Ropsten, is scheduled to be upgraded on March 10th. The mainnet upgrade is scheduled for release on April 14th.
berlin upgrade plan
After months of planning, "Berlin" is finally here! This is the latest upgrade after the upgrade of Ethereum Istanbul and Muir Glacier, and it is planned to go online at block 12 244 000 of the Ethereum mainnet. We expect this to happen around Wednesday 14th April 2021, but the exact date may change due to changes in blocking times.
The upgrade will be performed on three testnets (Ropsten, Goerli, and Rinkeby) before being deployed to the mainnet. The entire release schedule is as follows:

Ethereum node operators should upgrade their nodes well before fork block times on the network they want to join. Due to the variability of block times, it is recommended that client updates be done at least a few days before the expected date. See the following sections for the appropriate client version to upgrade to.
client version
To be compatible with the Berlin upgrade, node operators need to upgrade the version of the client they are running. Each client version listed below supports Berlin upgrades on all Ethereum networks (testnet and mainnet).
go ethereum (geth) (1.10.1)
open-ended (f.k.a. parity) (3.2.0)
Nethermind (1.10.31)
Besu (21.1.1)
Note that the client versions of TurboGeth and EthereumJS will not be ready for the first testnet, but will be released before mainnet. We will update this article as it becomes available. Trinity is now deprecated and does not support Berlin upgrades.
Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) Included in Berlin Upgrade
The Ethereum Berlin upgrade introduced the following 4 EIPs to the Ethereum network:
EIP-2565: ModExp gas cost
Reduced gas cost consumed by ModExp (0x00..05) precompilation;
EIP-2929: Increase gas cost for state access opcodes
Adds gas cost to SLOAD, *CALL, BALANCE, EXT* and SELFEEDESTRUCT when first used in a transaction;
EIP-2718: Typed transaction envelopes
Introduced a new transaction type, which is an envelope to more easily support multiple transaction types;
EIP-2930: Optional access list
Adds a transaction type that contains an access list and a list of addresses and storage keys that the transaction plans to access. This partially mitigates the increase in gas costs brought about by EIP-2929.
To learn more about each EIP, see the "Berlin overview" post by Ethereum cat shepherds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did you choose the name "Berlin"?
Following the Ethereum Istanbul upgrade, the names for the planned network upgrade have run out. It is recommended to upgrade with the name of the city that has hosted Devcon in the past. Berlin was the site of Devcon 0, and the next upgrade will be called London, which is also the site of Devcon 1.
What do I need to do as an Ethereum user or Ethereum holder?
If you use an exchange (such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Binance), a web wallet service (such as Metamask, MyCrypto, or MyTherWallet), a mobile wallet service (such as Coinbase wallet, Status.im, or Trust wallet), or a hardware wallet (such as Ledger, Trezor) or KeepKey), you don't need to take any action unless the exchange or wallet service tells you to take additional steps.
What do I need to do as a node operator or miner?
Download the latest version of the Ethereum client as indicated in the table above.
What if I am a miner or node operator but do not participate in the upgrade?
If you are using an Ethereum client that has not been updated to the latest version (listed above), your client will sync to the pre-fork blockchain after the upgrade. You will continue to follow the old consensus rules, be stuck on an incompatible chain, unable to send ETH or run on the upgraded Ethereum network.