Ethereum 2.0 | All About The Ethereum Merge

Ethereum is one of the most talked about altcoins 

in the world today. Nonetheless it is nowhere less than Bitcoin.

Talking about the Ethereum merge it is up above all the headlines of the cryptocurrency community. Here is all the information you need to know about it and when Ethereum 2.0 will launch.

The Merge entails the combination of two blockchains—mainnet Ethereum and Beacon Chain.

The Merge, dubbed the most important upgrade in Ethereum's history, does, in fact, signal the end of proof-of-work (PoW) for the Ethereum blockchain.

Ethereum, the largest altcoin by market cap and the most popular in the NFTs and DeFi space, is undergoing a major update to solve environmental issues and other difficulties triggered by its PoW technology. The Ethereum mainnet is scheduled to combine with the Beacon Chain's proof-of-stake mechanism in 2022, which is likely to be the most highly awaited event in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

While the merge has been updated and tested on the goreli network, suggesting this will go live on the new Goreli network, which is now merged with the Ethereum mainnet, which just goes that it will make ETH 2.0 live and the full system is going to be on the proof of stake model.

It will bring about Ethereum 2.0, the version that will be based on a proof-of-stake consensus process, and will be known as "The Merge," marking the end of the current proof-of-work Ethereum. Let's go through them in detail.

What is Ethereum 2.0 and what's gonna affect normal Ethereum coins?

Ethereum 2.0 is not a new cryptocurrency, but it is the name given to the updates coming to the Ethereum Network. As part of the initial modifications, Ethereum will combine with the Beacon Chain and switch from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. Additional enhancements, like sharding, will trickle out over the next few years.

The ETH Merge, if performed effectively, will ultimately separate the rest of the cryptocurrency market from the price volatility of Bitcoin, which is something that most people don't discuss more frequently. Following the Merge, the price of ETH will soar, and this will cause the remainder of the crypto market that is linked to or partnered with the ETH ecosystem to burst simultaneously.

So What’s it in it for us?

It has MEV boost Merge Ready Flashbot Architecture…. For those wondering what it is, MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) deals with generating revenue by optimally ordering transactions (TXs) in a block. It is a rather controversial topic, as gaining value from arbitrarily re-ordering or inserting TXs in a block must not only be ‘good’ (making markets more efficient in case of arbitrage or liquidations), but also ‘bad’ (e.g. by users being front-run or the blockchain potentially being destabilized ).

What are Flashbots?

Flashbots can be categorized as a research collective specialized in the topic of MEV. Their self-imposed goal is to mitigate the negative externalities of MEV for the Ethereum blockchain and its users. Historically, the team has shown high-value alignment with the broader Ethereum community. Apart from research, they offer a variety of MEV-related products and play diverse, active roles in their external block builder network (more on this below).

What has been the impact of MEV on Ethereum PoW so far?

For the majority of users, MEV became noticeable for the first time during the DeFi summer of 2020. As on-chain economic activity and settlement value rose to unseen highs, the infamous ‘gas wars’ began: specialized bots began out-bidding each other with gas for their profitable TX bundles to be included at particular places in a block. This undesirable race condition led to chain congestion and harmed not only the user experience but the blockchain as a whole.

Staking?

Yeah sure, you can stake the existing ETH coins so that after the update you can make changes 

Validators will have immediate access to the fee rewards and maximal extractable value (MEV) generated during block proposals from the execution layer or Ethereum mainnet, while stETH remains restricted for investors until withdrawals are resumed after the Shanghai upgrade.

The fee reimbursement will be available to the validator right away because it won't be made up of newly issued tokens.

So can we see this merge as an opportunity to stake and HODL investors what do the traders say?

Well, Some investors may have been confused by what seems to be two versions of Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum Network, on CoinGabbar and other well-known cryptocurrency exchanges Users stake their Ethereum, which is transformed from ETH to ETH2 and has the same price for both. These two forms of Ether will be merged into a single token in the so-called “Merge”.

What is the Merge and its effects on Ethereum's environment?

The Merge is the point at which the two systems—the Beacon Chain, which runs on PoS, and Ethereum's current mainnet, which runs on PoW—join. Proof-of-stake will thereafter completely replace the PoW consensus algorithm.

The Beacon Chain and the existing PoW mainnet will join during the forthcoming Merge, which will move all of Ethereum's historical data to the new chain. For an ecosystem the size of Ethereum, a complete shift in consensus would have profound political and technical specificities.

Ethereum has been operating two parallel blockchains since April 2022: the main chain that uses proof of work and a test chain that uses proof of stake. Through the merging, the old Ethereum Mainnet blockchain (ETH1) and the brand-new Beacon Chain (ETH2) will be combined into a single, integrated blockchain. 

The Merge is the union between Ethereum's new Beacon Chain proof-of-stake consensus layer with its current execution layer (the Mainnet which is currently used). This is designed to manage the energy mining operation while simultaneously employing staked ETH to secure the network. A promising step toward achieving the increased scalability, security, and sustainability goals of Ethereum.

While there are many repercussions for about that we can see that the ETH trading signals on ETH merge will indicate people in short-term trading.

Given that Beiko previously declared that the significant upgrade will occur on (or close to) his proposed date of September 19 if the final merge trail runs went through successfully, there is growing confidence that the eagerly awaited Ethereum mainnet merge with the PoS-based Beacon Chain will proceed without a hitch.

The Merge will drastically lower Ethereum's energy usage while advancing the network's long-term scalability, security, and sustainability goals. This upgrade is regarded as one of the most significant in blockchain history.

After the Merge is complete, the multi-phased sharding upgrade will be the following big milestone. This upgrade will greatly improve the distribution of data storage requirements, enabling rollups to be even cheaper, and making rollups more efficient, as stated by their team.

The yearly energy usage of Eth is presently comparable to Finland's, and its carbon impact is comparable to Switzerland's. Thankfully, the merger is anticipated to cut Ethereum's carbon footprint by up to 99.95%, resolving one of the cryptocurrency's primary objections, as there will be no more Eth mining.

How would investors trade in Ethereum?

On September 15 and 16, Ethereum is expected to undertake its long-awaited shift from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), with traders and analysts eagerly awaiting the results for possible trading strategies.

To keep it in their exchange wallet or any other platform that will support the forked tokens, traders can purchase Ether (ETH) on the spot market. Users of Bitcoin received the same amount of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which sold for $1,650 per token, in 2017, when Bitcoin was forked into Bitcoin Cash (BTC). BCH's value reached a peak of $800 during the bull market of 2021. Exchanges that allow hard forks would be the best places to sell PoW coins from those platforms if its users decide to ignore the Merge. 

What most people don't talk about more often is that the ETH Merge will finally decouple the rest of the crypto market from the price volatility of  Bitcoin when it's successfully implemented. The rest of the crypto market that is directly connected or paired with the ETH ecosystem will explode in unison with the rise of the price of ETH after the Merge.