Ethereum has taken the last step before definitively adopting the protocol Proof-of-Stake (PoS, proof of participation) in its blockchain, in an event known in the crypto ecosystem as The Merge. In the past few hours, the developers behind the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization successfully completed the transition of the Goerli testnet to the new system. was the last testnet that remained to merge before moving forward with the process for the Mainnet or main network.
The progress achieved feeds the illusion that, if there are no major inconveniences or setbacks, the passage of Ethereum from Proof-of-Work (PoW, proof of work) to Proof-of-Stake can be finalized next month. In fact, it is estimated that the radical change could occur between 15 and 19 September. However, to define when it will take place The Merge The specific difficulty mark that must be reached to implement the merger must be defined.
This is known as Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) and specifically represents that the fork will take place when the total difficulty exceeds this value. For what you have indicated Tim Beikoone of the developers of Ethereum, the aforementioned TTD would in block 58750000000000000000000 of the network. In simpler terms, that block would be the last one mined with the PoW protocol, and from the next all would be generated by PoS.
Ethereum takes the last step before ‘The Merge’
The project to migrate Ethereum from PoW to PoS dates back to at least 2020. At that time, its developers created a kind of “parallel network” to the blockchain known as the beaconchain. It was intended as the new consensus layer to replace mining.
Gradually, the beaconchain began to join the different testnets or Ethereum test networks, culminating the process with Goerli. When The Merge finally occurs, the algorithm will be changed Mainnet or main networkwhich is also known as the execution layer.
When that happens, the Ethereum blockchain will finally work under the proof-of-stake mechanism and not the proof-of-work mechanism it currently uses. And without losing anything that was recorded in it prior to the great merger. This means that the “general state” of Ethereum, with its transactions, applications, smart contracts and more, will not change.
Once the blockchain has completed the migration to the system Proof-of-Stakethe most important change in the public eye will be the elimination of mining as a method of producing new valid blocks.
Miners will be replaced by validators, who will have to deposit 32 ETH each to access the block and transaction validation software. As we have already clarified in the past, the latter will not be mandatory for everyone who wishes to continue running an Ethereum node. The “non-block generating” nodes will continue to exist as they currently do to bring decentralization to the network.
Less power consumption, more GPUs available
Eliminating mining will have even broader implications for the operation of Ethereum, such as a drastic reduction in energy use. It is estimated that, once the migration to PoS is complete, it will only consume 0.05% of what it currently requires under PoW.
The other effect will be on the availability of graphics cards. The demand for GPUs has fallen considerably in recent months and it is no longer impossible to get one, and specialists believe that this will increase with The Merge. With the adoption of the mechanism Proof-of-Stakemany Ethereum miners are expected to disarm their rigs mining and sell second-hand plates, if they are not inclined to try their luck mining other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum Classic or Zilliqa.