What will happen after The Merge? Ethereum (ETH) has been the subject of several debates since the announcement of the imminent implementation of The Merge, this update causing a lot of ink to flow within the community. This has been postponed and postponed many times already and is both expected and feared by investors, but also project developers using ETH.
During the weekly meetings devoted to technical questions organized by the developers of Ethereum on Zoom, the latter do not hide their joy at their progress towards the famous “merger”. This update is already intended to be one of the most significant technology upgrade events in the entire history of cryptocurrency.
Nevertheless, there is a need to fully explain what exactly The Merge is as well as its future ramifications on the Ethereum network as a whole, as many users obviously do not all seem to be able to define whether this update concerns them or not.
What changes does The Merge bring?
It's no secret that the developers of the Ethereum platform had been planning a global update for a while that would change a large part of the network. Although the project details were not concretely known, several names had been attributed to it: Eth2, Ethereum 2.0, and ETH 2.0. It was only at the beginning of this year that the launch phase of the project was unveiled to the public as The Merge or Fusion.
The merger is essentially an upgrade to Ethereum's platform aimed at improving the performance of its network. While it is true that cryptocurrencies are constantly getting upgrades today, what is being discussed here is more complex.
Indeed, The Merge is the biggest update to date, and its success will pave the way for developers to introduce a host of new features, as well as help significantly reduce power consumption on the Ethereum network.
The idea of merging is relatively simple. It is about merging the current mainnet of Ethereum, still known as the public blockchain, with what is called The Beacon Chain. If the two networks have the same origin, they do not have the same operating bases and exist in parallel.
Thus, only the main Ethereum blockchain is responsible for processing transactions through the use of a mechanism called Proof of Work (PoW). However, once the merger is in place, the Ethereum mainnet will abandon its PoW mechanism and adopt the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism from The Beacon Chain.
How does the Proof of Stake system work?
The only major change that the Ethereum network will register following the implementation of the merger will be its transition from the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism to the Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism. Once Ethereum adopts a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, the way it works will change to some extent.
Its network will be able to rely on trusted entities called validators to verify transactions and add new blocks to its blockchain. As soon as a new block joins the network (about every 12 seconds after the merge), a validator is randomly chosen to continue the work.
The Validator position is available to anyone who feels capable of performing the job. However, each applicant must deposit 32 Ethereum (around $61,000 during mid-August) as collateral against bad guys.
Although The Merge has not yet taken place, The Beacon Chain on which the network must settle already has more than 415,000 validators. With the PoW mechanism, there is competition between miners which consumes a lot of energy.
How will the Ethereum update impact the user experience?
Other than the switch from the PoW mechanism to the PoS mechanism, no other changes are meant to affect the Ethereum network. Users don't particularly have to worry about The Merge because nothing will change for them.
The crypto wallets they keep their ETH in, and even explorers like Etherscan will continue to operate as usual. The proposed merger does not require them to move their cryptocurrencies or migrate anything.
Also, pay attention to possible scams that will tell you otherwise. Beware of anyone contacting you asking you to follow some steps to complete The Merge update, as this information will obviously be false.
The Ethereum Foundation, the owner of the network, has already made this clear in its many announcements. Users and holders of ETH, or any other Ethereum-based digital asset, do not have to complete any procedures with their funds or wallets prior to The Merge.
All the funds you have in your portfolio before The Merge will still be accessible to you after it. There is no modification or any change to make on your side whether you are on an exchange platform or whether you have an external crypto wallet.
Therefore, stay alert for scammers who will attempt to take advantage of users during this transition period.
Not everyone agrees with this upcoming change for Ethereum because some projects especially like to use the PoW mechanism. Thus, the Ethereum Classic (ETC) fork has been on the rise in recent months thanks to The Merge.
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