Key takeaways:
- Ethereum has transitioned from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake following a successful Merge
- Thanks to the PoS transition, the Ethereum network will reduce its carbon footprint by 99.95%
- The Merge sets the stage for future Ethereum upgrades that will bring massive scalability improvements and enable the network to facilitate up to 100,000 TPS
Proof-of-Work is no more as Ethereum transitions to 99.95% more efficient Proof-of-Stake
It finally happened – earlier today, at 06:42:42 UTC, to be exact, the Ethereum mainnet successfully merged with the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Beacon Chain, marking arguably the biggest upgrade in crypto history. Starting today and going forward, Ethereum will use the PoS algorithm to reach a consensus about the state of the decentralized ledger.
Celebrating the successful Merge, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin congratulated “everyone who helped make the Merge happen” and added that he feels “very proud today”.
While the Merge itself won’t impact how users interact with Ethereum, or bring any notable scalability upgrades, the update sets the stage for post-Merge upgrades, which will bring considerable improvements to how transactions are handled, ultimately resulting in a blockchain that can process up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS).
One of the most notable improvements of the post-Merge Ethereum is the fact that the network won’t have to rely anymore on Proof-of-Work (PoW) miners and will instead depend on network validators for security and new block production. Thanks to the massive shift in how the network is being run, Ethereum will spend 99.95% less energy while sacrificing no functionality, according to the Ethereum Foundation.
The finalization of the Merge marks the first step on a five-phase long roadmap that will culminate with the Splurge and the full launch of Ethereum 2.0.
The next step on the Ethereum roadmap is the Surge, an upgrade that will bring sharding and introduce notable scalability improvements. Ethereum devs estimate the Surge will roll out in 2023-2024.
For more information about the upcoming Ethereum upgrades, check the detailed roadmap below.
