Ethereum’s Merge: The much-awaited move in crypto landscape

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Ethereum maximalists are already calling this the biggest event in crypto this year. They believe this will pave the path towards ‘the flippening’ – when Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. September is here, and the Merge is just weeks away. Let’s understand the event in detail and prophesize what’s ahead. What is the Merge?The Merge is the transition of Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. This shift was planned at the inception of the blockchain in 2014 itself. PoS is energy-efficient, and the Merge will instantly cut 99 per cent of Ethereum’s carbon emissions, according to the Ethereum Foundation. This will make ETH a strong candidate for institutional investors like Tesla who have stayed away from Bitcoin (BTC) on concerns about its energy use. It will also have implications on the tokenomics of ETH. The Merge will result in a 90 per cent net drop in the annual issuance of ETH. This means that, over time, ETH’s supply will remain stable (or even decrease; making ETH deflationary) giving a fillip to its investors. All retail investors will also be able to stake their ETH for passive rewards once the Merge is successful.

Did you Know?

From tracking sustainability of products to monitoring pollution, environmental researchers are now finding blockchain’s use in solving the climate crisis.

However, this step will not solve transaction speeds or drastically improve the volume of transactions on the blockchain. To address scalability, there are four additional steps in the roadmap of Ethereum (Surge, Verge, Purge & Splurge) once the Merge is complete. The above scenario, if played out well, can lead to ETH gaining on BTC