The Ethereum Merge Explained
One of the most significant blockchain upgrades in the history of cryptocurrency, let us take a look at what the Ethereum merge is in a short, easy-to-understand way.
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Video Credit: Finematics
Full article on the Ethereum Merge Explanation.
What Is The Ethereum Merge?
The Merge is known as the upcoming event in September this year where the Ethereum blockchain will migrate from using a proof of work consensus mechanism to a proof of stake consensus. This will affect Ethereum in many ways, including advantages and disadvantages.
What Should I Do Before The Merge?
Ethereum holders may want to consider the security of their ETH assents. By moving their ETH into a wallet they own during the merge could avoid potential conflict with receiving their airdrop on the updated blockchain.
Stay current with news about The Merge if you are invested in Ethereum or projects running on the Ethereum blockchain, education is your best tool.
Changes Planned For The Merge
- The current version of Ethereum will transition to a proof-of-stake system.
- It will be the end of proof-of-work on Ethereum.
- This allows future upgrades, including sharding.
- The Merge will reduce Ethereum's energy consumption by about 99 percent
After The Merge, Ethereum will use dramatically less carbon with the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. On the downside, the transfer from PoW to PoS will make Ethereum far less decentralized.
Once the Proof-of-stake consensus mechanism has taken over, Ethereum will become much less decentralized. Staker, including large exchanges that hold large sums of ETH, will be the new validators for transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.
Merging Mainnet With Beacon Chain
The Merge is the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum. Extensive testing and bug bounties were undertaken to ensure a safe transition to proof-of-stake. Ethereum developers have been diligently preparing for The Merge, taking precautions and performing extensive testing to ensure it's a success.
Since November 2020, The Beacon Chain has been running proof-of-stake alongside the proof-of-work Ethereum Mainnet. Later, in 2022 Developers began testing the merge process on several PoW test networks with their own Beacon Chains.
After experiencing success, developers began running shadow forks and testing multiple larger networks with Beacon Chain merging.
Ethereum Upgrades
Ethereum has a roadmap of upgrades to complete the founder's vision for the project. Many cryptocurrency projects are currently unfinished and will inevitably experience changes like The Merge.
Ethereum Vision:
To bring Ethereum into the mainstream and serve all of humanity, we have to make Ethereum more scalable, secure, and sustainable.
The Upgrades:
Ethereum consists of a set of upgrades that improve the scalability, security, and sustainability of the network. Although each is being worked on in parallel, they have certain dependencies that determine when they will be deployed.
Resources
Misconceptions about the merge
User & Holder information about the merge
