Ethereum Merge scheduled for mid-September
Bloomberg • November 08, 2022
Ethereum is set to merge in mid-September according to a call among Ethereum developers. The long-awaited update dubbed ‘The Merge’ where the protocol consensus mechanism moves from Proof-of-Work to fully Proof-of-Stake has been tentatively scheduled around 15/16 September.
The third test environment network ‘Goerli’ completed its own merge successfully as of 11 August, heightening the confidence in executing the Merge on mainnet Ethereum as well. The upgrade will eliminate the need of miners processing computation for consensus. Instead, the consensus mechanism will only involve validators that secure the network by staking the network's native cryptocurrency ETH.
The shift in consensus mechanism intends to make the protocol lighter, greener, faster and more energy efficient, drawing similarities to other Proof-of-Stake blockchains such as Polkadot, Avalanche and Cardano. It additionally makes Ethereum instantly ESG compliant, moving away from regulatory scrutiny because of the sources and sheer amounts of energy consumption to secure the network.
Once the Merge is complete, Bitcoin will be the only large capitalization blockchain still using a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. It is unlikely, however, that Bitcoin will also move away from Proof-of-Work. Rather initiatives to make use of its Proof of Work properties for the benefit of society are being explored (see whitepaper pdf) without changing its battle-tested security model.