Ethereum Underwent a Crucial Upgrade to Reduce Energy Consumption

• Ethereum blockchain offers vast functionalities but its energy consumption remains a paving stone.
• The limitations of the Ethereum network are anticipated to be reduced with its major upgrade called ‘Merge.’

Ethereum launched its highly anticipated software upgrade called “Merge” in September 2022. This network upgrade was made to reduce this blockchain’s high energy consumption. This major step was also expected to enhance this blockchain’s wider adoption while significantly supporting the price of ether (ETH) tokens. In the expanding crypto verse, energy consumption has become one of the most prominent issues. Several blockchains are working towards building an energy-efficient system to support their network’s efficiency and scalability while also being eco-friendly.

Aspects of Ethereum Blockchain

The widespread adoption of Ethereum by other blockchains has raised the need for Ethereum to become more environmentally friendly. As compared to its offspring, which offers more environmental friendliness, this blockchain’s increased energy use led to several debates over its adoption by crypto enthusiasts. 

Ethereum’s energy-saving upgrade came into the scene, representing a major step forward in the battle to be a top cryptocurrency with its large-scale implementation. It became the top choice among blockchains for several reasons, including playing a major role in the transformation of the world of decentralized finance (DeFi), including smart contracts and working as an underlying blockchain for the development of several other blockchain-based technologies.

This blockchain is the second-largest entity in the blockchain ecosystem. It aims to be a cryptocurrency that could change traditional ways of thinking about money with the help of its innovative offerings. Apart from being a cryptocurrency trading platform, this platform enables a digital ledger where users can develop and deploy applications. The development of several decentralized applications (dApps) also becomes easier with this decentralized network.

Merge and its Impact

Merge is the terminology that defines a specific point at which Ethereum merges with the ‘Beacon Chain’ system. With this software upgrade, this blockchain shifts from its previous energy-intensive functioning, in which computers solved complex mathematical problems for transaction verification using the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, to an energy-efficient method called proof-of-stack (PoS).

In PoS, users and organizations act as validators. These validators use their ether (ETH) token as collateral to win rewarding tokens. This consensus mechanism seems to be secure, fast and energy efficient as well.

After Effects of Ethereum Merge

This Ethereum upgrade is expected to reduce the limitations of the previous version while being more eco-friendly. Its new Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus is anticipated to drastically reduce the computation required by the system and to maintain this network by substituting crypto miners with a limited number of validators. This reduced number of computers results in comparatively lower processing power.

Additionally, this merge upgrade strives to enhance this blockchain’s security by addressing significant plaguing elements of this network. This leads to reduced block sizes across the blockchain and is expected to cut down on the number of nodes processing data. This upgrade is expected to make this blockchain more scalable and secure with easy handling of high throughput or transactions per second (TPS).

Conclusion

This upgraded version is assumed to be an improved iteration of its predecessor with some significant changes. These changes will surely not make any difference for existing users; instead, they will provide a faster, more scalable, more efficient and more energy-efficient user experience.