chepicap.com
During a recent talk on YouTube, Ethereum 2.0 researcher Justin Drake stated that January 3, 2020, might be the date phase zero of Ethereum 2.0 (A.K.A. Serenity) goes live.
Phase zero, which enables Proof of Stake (PoS) on Ethereum 2.0, is scheduled for a spec freeze on June 30, Drake says. He continues, stating that they’re looking at new realistic targets, with two main milestones. The first is to launch the deposit contract ahead of the genesis block so validators have time to make deposits.
Drake explains here that their idea is to have a deposit contract ceremony at Devcon in Japan “so that we can all agree on the exact address of the deposit contract and avoid scam deposit contracts.”
The second milestone is the genesis block launch date. Drake states launching before the end of 2019 “could be realistic.” This is a sentiment shared by Etherum co-founder, Joseph Lubitz. During an interview with CoinTelegraph at the Ethereal Summit during Blockchain Week, Lubitz stated there was a "good chance" Serenity will go live before the end of the year. However, Drake suggested an alternative date of January 3, 2020, the exact same day Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin’s genesis block in 2009.
Another reason for launching next year would give them three months to allow deposits to accumulate 2 million ETH and will allow seven months for at least two clients to reach production status, so it seems more likely we'll see Serenity launch next year.