Ethereum Merge – The New Era of Ethereum
Ethereum is a Blockchain technology platform used to build various applications. It helps various organizations to hold assets, facilitate transactions as well as communications without being controlled by a central authority. In Ethereum, you have full control over your data and need not share it with anyone in the network. Ethereum has its own cryptocurrency named 'ether' which is used to pay for various activities carried out on the Ethereum network. Ethereum was the first Blockchain platform to facilitate us to create our own cryptocurrency which can be regulated in the market.
Why there is a need for Ethereum Merge?
Early Ethereum worked on the consensus mechanism called the Proof-Of-Work POW), it is a decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members in the network to spend their time, electricity, and strong computational power to solve a mathematical puzzle to validate a transaction in the network and thus add that particular block in the blockchain. Hence, the Ethereum Merge represents the combination of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (The Ethereum Mainnet that we use today) and the new Proof-Of-Stake consensus protocol - the Beacon chain. It helps to eliminate the need of high energy consumption and secures the network using the staked ETH.
In Ethereum’s history, the developers have been working hard to make this shift from Proof-Of-Work to Proof-Of-Stake. The Beacon chain was created on 1st December 2020, and since then it was running parallel with the Ethereum Mainnet. The Beacon chain consensus was totally dependent on the active validators and the account balances. After completing the extensive testing, it has reached THE MERGE where the Beacon chain will be the engine for all network data and its transactions.
The Merge represents the official announcement of using the Beacon chain as the backbone engine of the Ethereum Mainnet. Mining will no longer be carried out to create blocks in the Blockchain. Instead, the Proof-Of-Stake validators will be responsible for validating the transactions and proposing them into the blocks.
Be rest assured that the history of the transactions will not be lost as the merge between Mainnet and Beacon will also merge the chain - which will merge the entire transaction history of Ethereum. People will also have their funds safe and continue with the network.
The Merge was estimated on the 14th or 15th of September. The launch time depends on how the network hash rate develops. Also, the merge will be triggered when it crosses the threshold of accumulated difficulty called the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD).
This Merge is expected to help the Ethereum Vision of more security, and scalability, and help overcome all the disadvantages faced by the POW. It will announce the end of Proof-Of-Work for Ethereum and will start a golden era of more sustainable Ethereum.