The Ethereum Merge is upon us, but what does this mean? And why is this an important event in the crypto space and Ethereum ecosystem?

Let’s take a deep dive and answer your frequently asked questions.

The TLDR:

• According to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, around the 15th of September 2022, Ethereum will transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.
• The Merge is also known as “Ethereum 2.0” and “Eth2”.
• Ethereum will use 99.5% less energy afterwards.
• No new Ethereum (ETH) will enter circulation for 6 months.
• Several stages are to occur post-merge for future scalability upgrades.

What is The Merge?

The Ethereum Merge (a.k.a Ethereum 2.0) is a highly anticipated event that is happening in the Ethereum community, essentially moving Ethereum’s network from a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. This entails a massive network upgrade waiting to happen.

This is the next step in the Ethereum evolution for a more sustainable and long-lasting network for users in the space. It’s important to understand how this merge is going to happen and what is likely going to occur during the timeframe of this network upgrade.

Ethereum 2.0 is big and complex. We’ll be breaking it down with FAQs to help you better understand the stages that will happen.

The first stage of this network upgrade is called the Beacon Chain.

The existing execution layer is merged with the Beacon Chain, a recently deployed consensus layer. From this point on, the Merge will replace the Proof of Work consensus mechanism with the Proof of Stake system.

So, What is the Beacon Chain?

You’re probably wondering by now, after these stages and upgrades take place, what exactly is this ‘Beacon Chain’? You’ve come to the right place.

The Beacon Chain is the new blockchain that is running parallel to Ethereum. Ultimately, the Beacon Chain makes the transition seamless from a Proof of Work to a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. Think of it like a helping hand to Ethereum.

The Beacon Chain went live on the 1st of December 2020, and is considered as phase 0 of Ethereum 2.0's various stages.

Why is The Merge Important?

You’ve come this far, and now you’re probably thinking, “why is the Merge important?”, “is this something that is really needed?”.

Well, the Merge is indeed important. Ethereum 2.0 aims to improve the efficiency of the Ethereum platform and network significantly. It removes the need for mining, a highly energy-intensive function that processes transactions on the network.

It’s expected that following the Merge, Ethereum’s energy usage will decrease by approximately 99.5% - benefitting the environment in every way possible and leading to better scalability.

Instead of miners (those who validate transactions and blocks on the network in a Proof of Work system), when it comes to Proof of Stake, we will instead have validators (who will take over the role of the miners).

What is Proof of Work?

Ethereum miners on a Proof of Work (PoW) system spend enormous energy to validate and ensure transactions successfully execute and are secure on the Ethereum network. Essentially this process ensures that the network chain is safe and secure from attacks, exploits, and fraud.

Another popular chain, Bitcoin (BTC), also uses the Proof of Work consensus mechanism.

What is Proof of Stake?

Proof of Stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism (like PoW), that validates transactions and entries in a distributed database. In this case, this would be the blockchain.

The main difference between Proof of Work and Proof of Stake is that with PoW, miners validated the transactions and blocks. With PoS, it requires validators to simply hold and stake tokens. Proof of Stake also reduces the amount of computational work.

Key Differences between PoW & PoS

How does The Merge affect me?

The Ethereum Merge should not affect you much (unless you’re a miner on the network). When it comes to the Enjin Wallet app and the Enjin Wallet v.2 Beta app, you don’t need to do anything or perform any updates.

Note: If you experience any issues, (e.g. token syncing, etc.) please send a ticket to our support team.

We recommend avoiding (if possible) any important transactions during The Merge as there may be some problems across the Ethereum blockchain; thus, always be on the lookout for news and any developments when the time comes.

If you have any questions or doubts, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

How does this affect Enjin?

The Ethereum Merge should have little impact on Enjin's services.

The Goerli Testnet is post-merge, and a Mainnet beacon client is currently being synced, so the transition should be much smoother.

In a nutshell, everything should be operational on the transition date.

If you notice any problems, concerns, or issues, contact the Enjin support team.

In case of any downtime, you can also monitor the Enjin status page.

Note: Efinity, which is built on Polkadot rather than Ethereum, should be unaffected.

Timelines

• Ethereum Merge: is scheduled for the 15th of September, 2022.
• Note: This is a target for the soft launch; delays may occur.
• Shard Chains: The scalability phase of Ethereum 2.0 will likely launch in late 2022. Shard chains will give Ethereum more capacity to store and access data, but they won’t be used for executing code.

You can also check out the countdown on Google!

So, what do you think of the Merge? Do you have any thoughts or concerns? How do you think this will impact Ethereum in the future?

Send us a tweet or a quick message to let us know.