Crypto markets have been going through an interesting phase since the beginning of 2022. Following the rocky start to the year, the crypto space also encountered a crypto market crash, which started when the crypto community faced the Terra LUNA crash in May. While the crypto markets were taking its usual route of being an asset with volatile markets, many projects were introduced and some of the oldest crypto tokens took some significant steps toward an evolved adapted version for the future.
One of the most significant of such coins was Ethereum. The ETH ecosystem has been concerned about its scalability and the amount of energy consumption the blockchain needed to run itself. As a result to better themselves, the ETH developers proposed a transition procedure. The steps started to be implemented onto the ETH blockchain since 2020, however, due to delays from the developers, the transition is still in process.
Read more on: Ethereum Merge
What is The Merge?
According to the technical definition by the Ethereum Foundation, the Merge represents the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the network using staked ETH.
This is being done with the objective of primarily becoming more energy sustainable but also at the same time will make it more secure and scalable.
Ethereum Merge has been one of the biggest issues Ethereum has been plagued with. Since it is the most popular amongst developers building dApps, smart contracts, and DeFi protocols – it has been plagued with network congestion and transaction fee issues. Ethereum’s transaction speeds are now much lower than some of its closest competitors and its gas fees have skyrocketed amid the surge in interest in DeFi.
But adjusting the second-largest blockchain from one system to another is an incredibly complex, multi-step process. It’s important that each decision be assessed thoroughly. Therefore, this has been in the works for quite some time and it is yet to be seen when the final version is launched onto the mainnet.
However, this new Ethereum Merge Update is slated to solve a large chunk of those problems and keep the network ahead of its competition and also reward those who have been with them along the journey, and staked actual value for the Ethereum 2.0.
Ethereum Merge Latest news
Back in July, right after the Sepolia Testnet went live, the transition of ETH to Proof of Stake consensus was only another testnet away! The Goerli Testnet was expected to transition to Proof of Stake sometime between August 6, 2022, and August 12, 2022. Staying true to the committed timeline, the third and final test environment network (testnet) merge before the Ethereum blockchain makes its long-awaited move to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work has successfully been completed today!
#Ethereum Goerli merged…
Good night. pic.twitter.com/dse6pLwwjO
— Ethereum on ARM 🦇🔊🐼👉👈🐼 (@EthereumOnARM) August 11, 2022
The Goerli testnet merge takes the project one step closer to Ethereum’s mainnet upgrade that is set to be completed later this year. Ropsten and Sepolia, the two previous testnet merges, were largely successful as well. The successful executions of the testnets helped in heightening the Ethereum community’s confidence regarding the actual Merge that should be able to happen this year.
The ethereum merge and its aim to work across all the ETH huddles the community has been pointing out for a while has led the Ethereum co-founder to comment on the speed we can expect from ETH after the blockchain completes its transition to Proof of Stake consensus from the previously Proof of Work consensus.
.@VitalikButerin claims that #Ethereum will be able to to process “100,000 transactions per second”, following the completion of 5 key phases:
• The Merge
• The Surge
• The Verge
• The Purge
• The SplurgeA quick breakdown of what each stage means for $ETH. 👇 pic.twitter.com/FnaWww8mHZ
— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) July 22, 2022
Additional Read: Top Crypto Prices Today
Source: CoinTelegraph
