Saturday, September 17, 2022

What is the Ethereum ‘Merge’ and What Does it Means for Crypto?

This week Ethereum had a major software update called "the merge" which should greatly reduce energy consumption on the platform and perhaps give it an advantage over Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

On Wednesday, the world’s second-most valuable cryptocurrency completed an update that would significantly slash its energy usage.

The new system will use 99.95% less energy, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The upgrade, which changes how transactions occur and how ether tokens are created, could give Ethereum a major advantage as it seeks to surpass rival blockchain Bitcoin. 

Interesting stuff.

3 comments:

  1. "Proof of Stake" is *not* the level playing field that "Proof of Work" is.

    With bitcoin, for an entity (government) to take control of the blockchain, it must control >50% of the processing power of the mining community. That's exceedingly unlikely.

    With etherium, such an entity must take control of >50% of the coins. For fiat printing governments, this is far more likely, and may have some analogy to the means by which the gold an silver markets have been manipulated for decades with "paper" gold and silver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When governments take control of things like "the silk road" and "coinbase", they usually take control of their holdings, including crypto. That does not bode well for "proof of stake".

      Delete
    2. I'm on the fence between proof of work vs proof of work. Only because I'm not well versed enough to hold a legitimate opinion.

      Delete