Vitalik Buterin said that the hard fork implementing the merge does not enable removing a deposit in the PoS system. The merge will change the consensus mechanism from PoW to PoS, which is more ecological, efficient, and secure.
Vitalik Buterin said that the Ethereum network had undergone several updates, as all its content will migrate to ETH 2.0. The programmer announced that the transition to ETH 2.0 could happen within about half a year.
The existing Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Proof of Stake (PoS) system called the Beacon Chain. It will do that after all transactions on the way to ETH 2.0 are complete. Previously, this process was called the docking, but now it is called the merge.
Here Is What Will Happen After the ETH1 and ETH2 Merge
Vitalik Buterin shared information on what will happen next, indicating that the merge will be complete within six months to a year. He stated that the hard fork implementing that process does not enable removing deposits in the PoS system.
Buterin also said that it would be possible to withdraw deposits that investors have previously frozen after that update. Similarly, the merge will add to Ethereum’s scalability and allow for more updates.
The founder of Ethereum explained that it is possible to scale between 4,000 and 5,000 transactions per second since there is 20 to 50 times more space. However, he claimed that Rollups would be able to reach up to 100,000 transactions per second.
The Merge Changes the Consensus Algorithm from PoW to PoS
The merge is an update that changes the consensus mechanism from Proof of Work (PoW) to PoS.
PoW will no longer be in use, and all the blocks will occur through PoS, which is more environmentally friendly, efficient, and secure. For that reason, Buterin warned users not to continue trying to download PoW before the merge.
The most likely estimated date for the merge is sometime in the first quarter of 2022. Tim Beiko, a developer at the Ethereum Foundation coordinating updates, said that a merge in 2021 is unlikely.
Ethereum’s EIP and the ETH2 Proof-of-Stake Merge
According to Tim Beiko, the EIP indicates that there have been no security breaches since the launch of the ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain in December. He explained that the long period of failure-free operation demonstrates how sustainable the system is to provide security for the Ethereum Mainnet.
Despite the EIP, prominent figures in the Ethereum community like Vitalik Buterin believe the merge is unlikely to occur in 2021.
Since the launch of Beacon Chain in December, ETH2 has become the second-largest PoS network by capitalization. It has around USD 12.7 billion worth of Ether locked even though its deposit is less than 6% of its supply in circulation.
Ether is currently trading around USD 2,198 and has a market capitalization of more than USD 257 billion. The cryptocurrency has grown by 20.5% in the last seven days, according to data from CoinGecko.
By Alexander Salazar
