All facts about the Ethereum Merge

7/17/2022, 05:00 PM
All facts about the Ethereum Merge
The Merge is the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum. Extensive testing and bug bounties were undertaken to ensure a safe transition to proof-of-stake. The Merge will take place on the Ethereum Mainnet in the week of September 19th. Prior to The Merge, the last testnet will be switched to proof-of-stake.
How fast will the network be after The Merge? How smooth will the transition be? Will the value of Ethereum increase or change as a result of The Merge? We have all the facts for you!

The Merge is the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum. Extensive testing and bug bounties were undertaken to ensure a safe transition to proof-of-stake. Preparations for The Merge began back in May.

This merger timeline is not final, but it will be extremely exciting to see how it unfolds. Please consider this as a planning timeline and keep an eye out for official announcements!
- superphiz.eth on twitter
After the Beacon Chain underwent a deep reorganization in May, the price of Ethereum crashed by 12%. The Beacon Chain was originally developed as a separate chain from the Ethereum Main Chain.
While the Beacon Chain is already running on PoS, the Main Chain has continued to run on PoW. The ETH2 merge is nothing more than integrate that Beacon Chain into the Main Chain. That will switch the entire protocol will be switched to PoS.

The merge itself is devided in seperate steps.
  • The Sepolia testnet Beacon Chain was launched in June. This process culminated in the integration of Sepolia into the network on July 7th. The Sepolia testnet is essentially a small beta test that simulates the actual Merge.
  • The Goerli testnet Merge is expected to go live in the second week of August.
    Goerli is a proof of authority (PoA) testnet web3 developers use to test blockchain applications before launching them on the Ethereum Mainnet. Goerli is one of Ethereum's most popular testnets.
  • The Bellatrix update will be released on the blockchain in early September. Finally, The Merge will be completed two weeks later on September 19th.
This will mark the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum, and the full transition to proof-of-stake. This sets the stage for future scaling upgrades including sharding.
It is expected that the switch to proof-of-stake technology will reduce energy consumption by 99%.
The transaction speed will thus increase significantly. Which of course also reduces transaction costs. While a transaction can currently cost a good 10 dollars, after the merge the costs should drop to around one dollar.
Despite the bear market, the announcement of The Merge has caused the price of Ethereum to increase by 10%. It is expected that The Merge will have a positive overall effect on the price of Ethereum.

For more infos checkout the official ethereum website.