First time hearing about "The Merge"? 

The Merge is a long-awaited upgrade migration of ethereum migration from its current POW system to a POS system. This process is speculated to happen in two processes: Bellatrix and Paris. The former is a network upgrade on the consensus layer while the latter will be the execution layer that will transition Ethereum from POW to POS. Paris is believed to be triggered by the Terminal Total Difficulty - TTD.

After the transition process, what follows? 

On completion, validation of new transactions through POS and ethereum's legacy POW would be permanently taken over by the already functioning beacon chain. Over 13 Million ETH has been staked already by validators. As the main network of the ethereum blockchain is integrated with the beacon chain, all transaction and smart contract and balance history of ethereum since the last noted merge will also be merged. 

Of what importance is this transition process?

The transition is six years in the making and considered to be a milestone in the history of cryptocurrency or digital assets due to the potential material and philosophical implications. This milestone could also bolster market confidence and inject some much-needed optimism, after months of market volatility due to, among other factors, inflation and rising interest rates. In complement, a merge like this is an incredibly rare event in crypto, and is likely never to happen again.

When is this transition expected?

 Once the Terminal Total Difficulty - TTD threshold is reached, the transition sequence is automatically initiated. Terminal Total Difficulty - TTD is the total difficulty threshold required of the final block mined in ethereum. In more technical terms, it represents the fixed number of hashes that are left to mine until POS officially takes over.

Expected Date of Merge : September 15, 2022.