By: Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, September 19, 2022
One of the biggest events in cryptocurrency history finally came to fruition last Thursday, with the merger of the Ethereum mainnet with its beacon chain proof-of-stake system.
This technological upgrade, known as a ‘merge’, marks the end of Ethereum’s ‘proof of work’ and the full transition to ‘proof of stake’. According to its developers, this eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining, ushering in the era of a more sustainable and ecological Ethereum.
What is ‘fusion’? Since its inception, Ethereum has used a so-called ‘proof of work’ (PoW) model that requires cryptocurrency mining to perform transactions. As this model is energy intensive and generally ungreen, the network is turning to a ‘proof of stake’ (PoS) model, which does not require cryptomining. Likewise, the one named Ethereum 2.0 has the advantage of being faster and more efficient.
Ethereum is the second largest blockchain in the world behind Bitcoin, and until now its total energy consumption was comparable to that of the Netherlands (approximately 112 TWh/year) and a carbon emission equivalent to that of Singapore (53 megatons annual metrics). The merger would reduce energy costs by more than 99.95%.
With ‘merge’, validators will be assigned to verify transactions on the Ethereum mainnet and mining will no longer be necessary, so miners will have to invest their earnings in staking on the new proof-of-stake system.
This material from the Actualidad RT portal in Spanish was edited for clarity, style and length.
Source Actualidad RT in Spanish : https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/441439-fusion-merge-ethereum
Photo: ShutterStock
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