Ethereum’s much-anticipated merge upgrade finally arrived on Thursday, September 15. Developers working on the update confirmed that the eco-friendly revamp of the world’s most commercial blockchain has been completed after years of work after facing several technical hurdles. Coincidentally, the date September 15 is also observed as National Engineers Day – which was pointed out by Ashish Singhal, co-founder and CEO of Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.
Speaking to Gadgets 360, Singhal said the release of the merger is historic and a true engineering feat.
“Organizations are striving for carbon-neutrality in line with our climate goals, and such concerns may have kept many of them from adopting Web3. But with Proof of Stake (PoS) now live with Ethereum, such concerns are allayed. It is truly an engineering feat. It is fitting that it was completed on Engineer Day,” said Singhal.
By successfully transitioning to a PoS mining system, Ethereum has become 99.95 percent more energy efficient. The developers who worked on the project did so without disrupting the network, the thousands of apps and protocols based on it, or the users who invested in its parent coin, Ether.
Ahead of the merge upgrade, Ether is trading at $1,585 (Rs. 1.30 lakh approx).
Insiders in India’s budding crypto community have welcomed the merger, hoping that the green initiative will lead to greater adoption of blockchain technology.
“This massive event will have a significant impact on the entire crypto space. Ethereum has reached a significant milestone in its transition from PoW to PoS mechanism,” Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of Mudrex crypto investment platform, told Gadgets 360.
While PoS mining operations use randomly selected miners to validate transactions, PoW mining requires a competitive validation method to confirm transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain. Hence, PoW mining is more expensive to maintain.
Bitcoin works on a PoW mining model and is notorious for being environmentally harmful.
Indian developers are celebrating this much-awaited milestone in the crypto industry, glimpses of which have been seen on social media.
The merger was first proposed in 2014. Developers have conducted extensive tests on Ethereum improvements over the years as decentralized finance (DeFi) apps are supported on a blockchain worth more than $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,61,110 crore) and cannot be compromised.
Indian developers have expressed their deep gratitude to the team for achieving this historic milestone for the sector.
Bitcoin’s reign over the crypto space could also be challenged now that mergers have become an eco-friendly option for developers and investors alike.
“As the chain now moves to locked ETH, the net amount of ETH in supply/circulation is decreasing and we should see price gains in the future,” Meenal Thukral, Executive Vice President, Growth and Strategy at CoinDCX, a crypto exchange, told Gadgets 360. “Big day for everyone working on the merge as we see everything smooth after one of the biggest financial events in crypto history.”
