Over the past few weeks, this news has been everywhere, countless articles talking about when the merger will take place, whether this is good for the value of Ethereum, even its contribution to the environment, but there is one thing that all these articles have in common and that is complexity.
Because let's be honest, nobody understands what the hell it means that the ETH developers set the date of the merger for the TTD 58750000000000000000000. But don't worry, you've just come to the right place to answer all those questions you have about this milestone for the Ethereum community.
What is Fusion?
It all starts on December 1, 2020, when it was officially created”Beacon Chain”, which has since been operating in a test state, parallel to the Ethereum main network.
With the merger, Beacon Chain is planned to serve as the block production method, replacing mining, or Proof of Work (PoW), with Proof of Participation (PoS). This major upgrade gives way to a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and secure Ethereum.
Differences between PoW and PoS
Work Test or”Proof of Work” is the validation method currently used by the Ethereum network. The blockchain is secured by participants called miners, who use super-powerful hardware to validate new blocks and obtain rewards.
On the other hand, Proof of Stake or “Proof of Stake” will be the new method for validating and generating new blocks in the ETH network. Miners are replaced by “validators”, who don't need any kind of hardware, they just need to own ether. The more coins you have, the more likely you are to receive a reward.
As many of us know, mining is a fairly complex process and more and more powerful hardware is needed to solve operations. If we increase power, we must increase energy consumption, which in turn translates into pollution.
Energy consumption of the Ethereum network
Currently, the Ethereum network consumes an annual energy consumption equivalent to Finland, and leaves a carbon footprint in the atmosphere similar to that of Switzerland.
With fusion, energy consumption is reduced by 99.95% because validators only need a device with internet access to participate in the process.
What should I do during the merge?
The network upgrade is designed to be a smooth and smooth change, Ethereum users don't need to do anything at all. If you are worried about your funds, you should be calm, during the process all the money is still protected and it is unlikely that anything bad will happen with it.
Obviously, many people will try to take advantage of the event to create disinformation and confusion among users. It's quite important that you stay alert to potential scams.
The Ethereum blog has already warned of several scam attempts offering users to upgrade to “ETH2”. After the merger, Ethereum's entire history will remain the same, so the cryptocurrency won't change its name, or anything like that.
Myths about fusion
1. Faster transactions
Although there is a reduction in the average transaction time in the Beacon Chain, it is barely 10%, so it is practically negligible and users may never notice the difference.
2. The merger will cause downtime in the blockchain
The Ethereum developers did quite a bit of hard work to ensure that there is no interruption during the process, so no one should worry about it.
3. Reduction in gas rates
The merger is a change in the block validation mechanism, it has nothing to do with an expansion in network capacity, so no change in gas rates is expected.
When is the merger?
Since we know everything about The Merge, we just need to know the most important thing, the date. Everything is set for September 15 or 16, 2022.
The exact time is quite difficult to calculate for now, as we have to wait for the day to approach, so we want to invite you to our community on Telegram, where you can keep up to date with the latest in the crypto ecosystem and talk to other cryptocurrency fans. In addition, you will have before anyone else information about El Dorado, such as offers or events.
Don't wait any longer and start your journey to El Dorado!
