{"id":13711,"date":"2022-08-23T22:25:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T22:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/what-is-the-merge-a-brief-explanation-of-ethereums-transition-from-proof-of-work-to-proof-of-stake-technology-bitcoin-news\/"},"modified":"2022-08-23T22:25:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T22:25:50","slug":"what-is-the-merge-a-brief-explanation-of-ethereums-transition-from-proof-of-work-to-proof-of-stake-technology-bitcoin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/what-is-the-merge-a-brief-explanation-of-ethereums-transition-from-proof-of-work-to-proof-of-stake-technology-bitcoin-news\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Merge? A Brief Explanation of Ethereum\u2019s Transition From Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake \u2013 Technology Bitcoin News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b>
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In 23 days the Ethereum network will transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm after operating as a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain since July 30, 2015. While the change may not mean much to ethereum users and traders, what\u2019s changing under the hood is a very big deal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve Heard About The Merge, Why Is It a Big Deal?<\/h2>\n

Next month will be a monumental time for the Ethereum network and its participants. The Merge will likely be one of the most anticipated and recognizable upgrades the blockchain has seen since The DAO hard fork. On or around September 15, 2022, Ethereum will implement The Merge and that means the chain will completely change the consensus mechanism it once used. Since the blockchain was created, Ethereum\u2019s consensus mechanism has been a proof-of-work (PoW) scheme, similar to Bitcoin\u2019s consensus mechanism.<\/p>\n

However, instead of the PoW consensus mechanism SHA256, Ethereum relies on a scheme called Ethash, a PoW consensus agreement preceded by a mechanism known as Dagger-Hashimoto<\/a>. The main goal of Ethash was to offer ASIC resistance but after a few years, Ethash ASIC miners<\/a> appeared on the market alongside the use of graphics processing units (GPUs)<\/a>. Similar to Bitcoin\u2019s PoW consensus algorithm, Ethash miners must put forth the computational cost of purchasing and operating ASIC or GPU miners, and using electricity.<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n

When The Merge takes place, Ethereum will not depend on miners to validate transactions. Instead, the network\u2019s transactions will be validated by entities called validators. By using a PoS consensus mechanism, Ethereum validators are selected by owning 32 ether and they are required to run three different pieces of software which include a validator, an execution client, and a consensus client. At the time of writing, 13,406,821<\/a> ETH<\/a> has been added to the Ethereum 2.0 contract and there are more than 416,000 validators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ethereum blockchain\u2019s roadmap has had plans to become a PoS chain for a number of years. The Ethereum Foundation provides six different reasons<\/a> why PoS is an improvement and one of the most talked about is \u201cbetter energy efficiency.\u201d The Ethereum Foundation\u2019s summary of ETH<\/a>\u2019s transition to PoS also says that the consensus mechanism provides \u201clower barriers to entry\u201d because of \u201creduced hardware requirements\u201d and \u201cthere is no need for elite hardware to stand a chance of creating new blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ethereum\u2019s proof-of-work miners, the ones with ASICs and GPUs, will need to mine another crypto asset that leverages the Ethash algorithm and there are a few that exist today. Miners can choose from mining ethereum classic, ravencoin, ergo, beam, and possibly a new PoW Ethereum fork that is created amid The Merge transition. A few days ago, on August 20, 2022, Ethereum Classic\u2019s hashrate reached an all-time high. Ethereum (ETH<\/a>) will follow a new set of consensus rules and mining ethereum with a machine will be obsolete. While the PoS topic has been discussed a great deal, development toward reaching the goal has been successful as well.<\/p>\n

Presently, Ethereum runs a PoS chain called the Beacon chain that runs parallel with the PoW blockchain network. Developers have safely docked The Merge with all three major testnets \u2014 Ropsten, Sepolia, and Goerli \u2014 and approximately nine shadow forks have been executed. The Merge will be executed on Ethereum\u2019s main network on or around September 15, 2022, or when the total difficulty reaches 58750000000000000000000. At that time the network will merge with the PoS consensus mechanism that has been applied to the Beacon chain, and the testnets Ropsten, Sepolia, and Goerli.<\/p>\n

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Beacon Chain<\/a>, beam<\/a>, Ergo<\/a>, ETH<\/a>, ETH 2.0 Contract<\/a>, Ethash<\/a>, Ethash mining<\/a>, ether<\/a>, Ether PoS<\/a>, Ether PoW<\/a>, Ethereum<\/a>, Ethereum (ETH)<\/a>, Ethereum Classic<\/a>, Goerli<\/a>, Hashrate<\/a>, PoS<\/a>, PoS consensus<\/a>, PoS consensus mechanism<\/a>, PoS Validators<\/a>, PoW<\/a>, ravencoin<\/a>, Ropsten<\/a>, Sepolia<\/a>, Terminal Total Difficulty<\/a>, The Merge<\/a>, total difficulty<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you think about Ethereum changing its consensus mechanism to PoS from PoW? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nJamie Redman <\/h6>\n

\nJamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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Image Credits<\/b>: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

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Disclaimer<\/strong>: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com<\/a> does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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