Ethereum Blockchain Migrates to Proof of Stake After Completion of The Merge

September 15, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Ethereum Merge on track as Goerli test merge successfully finalized

August 11, 2022 Coin Telegraph

With the Goerli merge going successfully, there is growing confidence that there will be no further delays to the Ethereum Merger set for mid-September.

After Ropsten and Sepolia, Goerli was the last remaining testnet scheduled to undergo the merge, officially becoming a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain as of 1:45 am UTC, Aug. 11.

The Goerli testnet merge has been finalized without any major issues today, suggesting that there will be no delays to the tentative Ethereum Merge date set for Sept. 19.

Numerous key devs and figures in the Ethereum ecosystem have taken to Twitter to share their enthusiasm over the successful merge, such as core dev Preston Van Loon and podcaster/ETH proponent Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x) who bullishly noted to his 216,400 followers that “next up is (finally) the Ethereum mainnet!! The Merge is coming.”

The Goerli testnet has been successfully merged and is now a full Proof of Stake chain.

Next up is (finally) the Ethereum mainnet!!

The Merge is coming
— sassal.eth (@sassal0x) August 11, 2022

However some noted there were minor issues that were also present in the previous two testnet merges.

Ethereum developer Marius van der Wijden noted that there was some “confusion on the network because two different terminal blocks and lots of non-updated nodes” that slowed the process down slightly, but stated that things were looking “quite good” anyway.

While lead Ethereum dev Tim Beiko also shared a screenshot as soon as Goerli’s switch to PoS went through.

pandas on the screen! pic.twitter.com/0nYll6gImH
— Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth (@TimBeiko) August 11, 2022

There is growing confidence now that the highly anticipated Ethereum mainnet merge with the PoS-based Beacon Chain will go through without a hitch, given that Beiko previously stated that the major upgrade will go through on (or close to) his proposed date of Sept. 19 if the final merge trail runs went through successfully.

In what is being seen as one of the most significant upgrades in blockchain history, the Merge will significantly reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption while bringing the network one step closer to its long term scalability, security and sustainability goals.

Once the Merge is complete, the next major landmark will be the multi-phased sharding upgrade that will significantly enhance the “distribution of data storage requirements, enabling rollups to be even cheaper, and making nodes easier to operate,” according to Ethereum’s website.

Sharding essentially involves spreading the Ethereum database horizontally across shard chains, giving the network greater capacity while also taking the strain off the core network.

The price of Ether (ETH) has been on a meteoric pump in the lead up to the Merge, with the price gaining 72.2% over the past 30 days to sit at $1,890 at the time of writing.

And there we go! Goerli has merged

Shout out to all client teams, contributors and the whole #Ethereum ecosystem - what a moment to share with you all! #TheMerge is next
— Nethermind (@nethermindeth) August 11, 2022

Greenpeace, Ripple co-founder campaigning to change Bitcoin code

March 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin Miners

Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple also joined in on the call, saying Bitcoin is the “outlier” now that Ethereum’s model is set to change.

Greenpeace, along with other climate groups, and co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, Chris Larsen, has launched a new campaign aimed at changing Bitcoin (BTC) to a more environmentally friendly consensus model.

The “Change the code, not the climate” campaign aims to pressure key industry leaders, Bitcoin miners, and influencers like Elon Musk, and Jack Dorsey, into moving over to a new consensus model saying:

“If only 30 people — the key miners, exchanges, and core developers who build and contribute to Bitcoin’s code — agreed to reinvent proof-of-work mining or move to a low-energy protocol, Bitcoin would stop polluting the planet.”

Greenpeace cites concerns that the energy required to mine Bitcoin comes mostly from fossil fuels, and that miners are using coal waste and associated natural gas as ways to fuel their operations.

Greenpeace accepted Bitcoin donations for seven years between 2014 and May 2021 before announcing it was halting acceptance of Bitcoin donations, citing environmental concerns. Around the same time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stopped accepting Bitcoin payments for Tesla vehicles also.

Ethereum (ETH), which currently relies on the same proof-of-work mechanism as Bitcoin, is in the final stages of a lengthy and complicated process to a new proof-of-stake mechanism. Greenpeace says proof-of-stake is much less environmentally harmful due to its lower energy consumption.

“Now with Ethereum changing, Bitcoin really is the outlier,” Larsen said to Bloomberg in an interview published on March 29. “Some of the newer protocols, Solana and Cardano are built on low energy,” he added.

Larsen stated he owns Bitcoin and Ethereum and wanted to see both cryptocurrencies succeed, but that Bitcoin is heading down an unsustainable path. He added that if he had concerns about Bitcoin as competition for Ripple, he would let it continue.

Some of the largest Bitcoin mining companies hold in excess of 5,000 BTC, upward of $237 million at current prices, and data shows that those with the most Bitcoin reserves are increasing their hash rate.

Greenpeace does note this in its manifesto, saying they understand Bitcoin stakeholders have an incentive not to change, as changing Bitcoin would make their expensive equipment much less valuable, meaning sunk costs or “other creative solutions” would have to be implemented.

Chris Bendiksen, a Bitcoin researcher at CoinShares was quoted in the report saying:

“I’d put the chance of Bitcoin ever moving to PoS at exactly 0%. There is no appetite among Bitcoiners to destroy the security of the protocol by making such a move.”

Greenpeace did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ethereum pos