The Ethereum ‘Merge’ officially goes live
HIGHLIGHTS
Ethereum merge happened on Septemeber 15, 2022
Ethereum is now Proof-of-Stake
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has thanked the community for its support
How did the crypto community react to the Merge?
September 15, 2022, The much-awaited overhaul of Ethereum known as the Merge has finally arrived to take the digital machinery at the core of the second-largest cryptocurrency to a vastly more energy-efficient system. The Ethereum network switched to the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, putting an end to the now-outdated proof-of-work mining architecture. With the 'Merge; update done, the blockchain now uses 99.95 percent less energy than before, ushering in a new era of environmentally-friendly cryptography.
This is coming after years of development and delay.
After the Merge, every 12 seconds or so, when a new block is to be added, Ethereum will use a "proof-of-stake" technique. From a pool of stakers who will temporarily deposit their tokens to protect the network, an algorithmic lottery method will select who will get to verify transactions and earn tokens as rewards for doing
The idea was there from the start that Ethereum would eventually make the switch to proof-of-stake. But the transition was a complicated technical effort – an endeavor so risky that many doubted it would happen at all.
“The metaphor that I use is this idea of switching out an engine from a running car,” said Justin Drake, a researcher at the non-profit Ethereum Foundation who spoke to CoinDesk before the Merge happened. “I like to think of it as kind of like the switch from gasoline to electric.”
There’s a part of me which hasn’t completely realized that this is actually happening,” Drake said.
“I’m somewhat in denial, you know, because I’ve trained myself to just expect it to happen in the future.”
According to Ethereum’s developers, the upgrade will make the network – which houses a $60 billion ecosystem of cryptocurrency exchanges, lending companies, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other apps – more secure and scalable.
When the Merge officially took off, over 41,000 people were tuned in on YouTube to an “Ethereum Mainnet Merge Viewing Party.” After about 15 long minutes, the Merge officially got finalized, and could officially be called a success.
How did the crypto community react to the Merge?
"And we finalized! Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the Merge happen should feel very proud today," says Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder.
And we finalized!
Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.
vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 15, 2022
Vitalik further informed that the Merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2 percent.
“Ethereum Merge is a pivot of unprecedented scale and complexity in the crypto ecosystem. Ethereum's successful transition to a greener and energy-efficient blockchain will, in the long term, lead to the greater adoption of the technology," says Ashish Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch, a crypto exchange.
However, the CEO of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance tweeted," Merge successful. POS activated. We are all still here."
Merge successful. POS activated.
We are all still here.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 15, 2022
"The Merge is a great example of perseverance. Ethereum's transition to a proof of stake, or a greener blockchain, was first proposed in 2014. But it got delayed, then again, and then again. It even became a meme—"Wen Merge". But the developers and community kept building, kept iterating. Finally, on September 15, 2022, it happened: A greener, more secure Ethereum is here. The Merge is complete. A greener Web3 is a reality. Moral of the story: Keep BUIDLing. Success will follow," Singhal added.
#TheMerge was first proposed in 2014. It got delayed, then again, and then again. But @ethereum developers & @VitalikButerin kept building, kept iterating.
Now, a greener, more secure #Ethereum is here.
Moral of the story: Keep BUIDLing. Success will follow https://t.co/FwKIRjDxuC
— Ashish Singhal (@ashish343) September 15, 2022
However, Avinash Shekhar, CEO of ZebPay said, “The Merge is a landmark event in the Crypto space with tremendous potential. It puts an end to mining through a Proof-of-Work ( POW) consensus mechanism on the ETH blockchain and marks the beginning of the Proof-of-Stake(POS) consensus mechanism."
Additionally, some crypto industries have predicted that this upgrade is going to make the Ethereum Blockchain more secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly. "With the Blockchain soon shifting to a POS system we could see increased adoption of the Ethereum blockchain by innovators. We could see more De-fi, NFT, and Web 3.0 applications running on the Ethereum blockchain because of this upgrade," says Shekhar.
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