The most-waited and massive Ethereum upgrade, Merge, just went live. The crypto industry, which has been perceiving it as the game changer in cutting energy consumption by more than 99% has successfully taken effect.
The first-ever proof-of-stake block of the transaction has been finalized with a nearly 100% client participation rate. This means that Ethereum has finally swapped out miners for validators making the protocol safer and extra sustainable.
The merge officially went live at 2:43 AM EST, with over 41,000 people tuned in on YouTube to witness the historic upgrade via the “Ethereum Mainnet Merge Viewing Party”.
The community watched the key metrics trickle in, suggesting that Ethereum’s core systems remained intact throughout the process. After around 15 long minutes, The Ethereum Merge had been declared a success.
Soon after, Ethereum co-founder VItalik Buterin showed his enthusiasm, congratulating, “Happy Merge all”.
This merge upgrade alters the way blockchain secures its network and verifies transactions, requiring far less power than PoW mining. With this, there would be a reduction in energy consumption by roughly 99.95% which will make the network more sustainable.
The upgrade will also lower the barrier for institutional investors who have been skeptical about the optics of contributing to the climate crisis. The upgrade will altogether change the tokenomics around Ethereum’s native coin, ether.
This upgrade will result in a significantly reduced supply of Ether tokens in circulation which would eventually make ether a deflationary currency in the weeks ahead.
Industry experts predict that it could also drive up the price of the token. At the time of writing, the price of Ether soared, and is trading at around $1,640, up more than 3% in the last hour.
Also Read: The Ethereum Merge – Will Investors Sell the News or Buy into ETH?
