The Ethereum Merge has formally taken place, marking the total transition of the network to proof-of-stake (PoS). The Ethereum proof-of-stake consensus mechanism will minimize energy consumption by a massive 99.95% in comparison with the proof-of-work system.
On Sept. 15 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15537393, the long-awaited Merge saw the merging of the Ethereum mainnet execution layer and the Beacon Chain’s consensus layer on the Terminal Total Difficulty of 58750000000000000000000, which means the network will now not rely on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism.
Ethereum (ETH) price will get a slight pump following the Merge in hourly metrics, currently trading at around $1,635, in response to information from TradingView.
The Ethereum Foundation mentioned the Merge will make the Ethereum network about 99.95% more vitality environment friendly and will set the stage for future scaling options, together with sharding.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin celebrated the Merge with a tweet moments after the historic transition occurred:
Speaking to Cointelegraph, StarkWare president and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson that “the immediate importance of the Merge is the dramatic impact on energy consumption.”
Ben-Sasson mentioned it additionally marks “the first step in a course of that may result in exceedingly widespread adoption of Ethereum,” stating:
“It begins a chain reaction of changes. The top consequence would be the very broad use of Ethereum’s computing energy, and the overall inhabitants utilizing blockchain-based apps in many different areas of life.”
The Merge has come on the back of several years of hard work from the Ethereum Foundation.
Businesses that issue Ethereum-based exchange-traded products (ETPs) have been busy making their very own adjustments about the Merge. Bradley Duke, CEO of the European crypto ETP issuer ETC Group, explained to Cointelegraph that the company has ready a “forked version” of their ETH-based ETP in case there’s a significant help for a PoW fork after the Merge.
“If enough people get behind a fork for no matter cause, we feel the free market will decide on what ought to stay and what shouldn’t,” Duke added.
With the Merge complete, the “Surge,” “Verge,” “Purge” and “Splurge” are the final phases left on the Ethereum technical roadmap.
The Surge will improve scalability for rollups by means of sharding, the Verge will obtain statelessness through Verkle trees, the Purge will remove historic information and technical debt, and the Splurge will contain a variety of small miscellaneous upgrades.
One of the largest transitions in the history of blockchain didn’t go without opposition. ETHW Core, a group representing proof-of-work miners, announced that they’ll conduct a hard fork within 24 hours after the Merge
Renowned designer Beeple celebrated the Merge with a sci-fi illustration:
The Ethereum Merge has formally taken place at block 15537393 on Thursday at 06:42:42 UTC, transitioning the community from PoW to PoS.