There has been a talk of many updates happening to some of the major crypto tokens for a while. Recently, the Cardano ecosystem finally implemented the Vasil Hard Fork in their testnet. The Vasil hard fork will enable faster block creation and greater scalability for decentralized apps (dapps) running on the Cardano ecosystem.
Along the same time when the delay of the Vasil Hard Fork was announced, the crypto community also got an update from one of the significant crypto-asset existing today; Ethereum. The layer-1 blockchain has been planning for a while, to shift from its current proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and they are calling this transition ‘The Merge’. They were promising the update to happen very soon, this year.
As reported by Decrypt, the Ethereum blockchain is now one step closer to achieving ‘The Merge’. Today, Sepolia, another one of its testnets, executed its own merge and made the switch to proof of stake. The Ethereum developers have now tested the merge on two public testnets, Ropsten and today Sepolia. Following these testnets, the next test is set to take place on the Goerli testnet.
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Once all three testnets have been tested, the Ethereum mainnet will be moving across to the proof of stake consensus mechanism. A testnet which is short for a test network allows users who are using a blockchain to try out the new tech before it launches on its main network called the mainnet or it undergoes an upgrade. These security measures and step by step method is particularly important with public networks such as Ethereum. These steps are there so that developers can ensure smooth work on the various upgrades. Along with a smooth transition, these steps also help in ensuring that billions in funds aren’t lost. Thus, the secure testnet launches on Ropsten and Sepolia, soon to be followed by the third round of testing means the entire network will then be able to securely use a proof of stake blockchain.
The update has been a long time coming, as the Ethereum developers have been promising a move to proof of stake for years but the process has suffered several delays. With two testnet launches down, The Merge is now expected to be fully completed before the end of this year.
The Proof of Work consensus mechanism involves the cooperation of network participants, who are also known as miners. Through the current PoW mechanism, these miners use powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems in order to verify and validate transactions and secure the network. For the work they put in, and for their trouble, miners receive rewards in the form of the network’s native crypto token, such as BTC or ETH.
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All of these troubles are going to go away with the Ethereum transitioning to the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. This is because the PoS mechanism does not involve miners and should make the network considerably quicker and cheaper to use. Although critics say the PoS is arguably less decentralized and therefore has a chance to be less secure.
Source: Decrypt
Though the successful functionality of all these depends on a successful merge. Keep an eye out for the latest updates on CoinDCX Blog.
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