TL;DR:
Ethereum is entering its final phase after the network’s final testnet has been successfully executed on the Goerli Network.
This is the final much-anticipated event after the transition from proof of stake to proof of work is complete.
The mainnet merge should occur sometime at the end of September, however, this was the final rehearsal of the merge.
The Goerli testnet merge occurred in two phases, one beggining with the Bellatrix upgrade on August 4, and the second step called Paris only triggered today after the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) on the chain reached 10,790,000.
The past few months the Ethereum Foundation has performed two other testnets, Sepolia and Ropsten.
The merge takes the project closer to Ethereum Mainnet upgrade later on this year, with September 19 being the tentative date.
Ethereum’s token $Eth has responded positively to the merge announcement with an 14% increase since the announcement and a current price of $1,880.65 according to CoinGecko.