Vitalik Buterin says the long-awaited ETH merge may take place in August which is a move from the proof-of-work to proof-of-stake
Vitalik Says ETH Merge To Happen In August
The long-awaited merge of Ethereum (ETH) may finally be happening. Vitalik Buterin, who created the second-largest blockchain in the world, said the network’s move to proof-of-stake should happen in August. He quickly added that it could take a few more months.
At an ETH web developer summit in Shanghai, Buterin said, “The merge will happen in August if there are no problems.” He then said it could happen in September or October as well. Several Ethereum developers shared Buterin’s hopes.
The long-delayed merge was supposed to happen in June, but the critical step was put off again. Since about $25 billion is at stake and this is a complicated technical move, it’s more important to get it right than to hurry the upgrade.
Even though developers are busy with tests and testnets, it’s still like trying to fix a car engine while driving down the highway.
Change From Proof-Of-Work To Proof-Of-Stake
The Ethereum merge is a change from the original proof-of-work validation model to proof-of-stake, which is better for the environment and can be used by more people.
Proof-of-work is used by both Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE). At the moment, each of the three cryptos uses as much energy as a small or medium country. About 98% less energy will be used by Ethereum after the merge.
The merge is an important step in a series of upgrades that are being done in stages to fix some of the problems with the network.
It was the first blockchain to have smart contracts, which are very important. It still hosts a lot of decentralized applications.
But Ethereum has trouble with high gas fees and a lot of people using the network at the same time.
So, its first-mover advantage has been lost as projects switch to alternatives to Ethereum that are faster and cost less.
The merge is not a magic bullet that will solve all of Ethereum’s problems, though. It won’t do things like lower gas prices.
That won’t happen until at least next year when something called “shard chains” is added to the network. This last step is what will cut down on both network traffic and gas prices.
