Ethereum’s Transition to Proof-of-Stake Has Been Postponed for a Few Months
According to a tweet posted by Barcelona-based Ethereum 2.0 core developer “Daplian”, the second merge test is expected on Saturday.
Merge’s first rehearsals took place earlier this April. The developers implemented a so-called “shadow fork” so that they could experiment with their ideas before making actual changes to proof-of-stake.
The next step will provide more clarity about the much-awaited transition timeline.
It was expected that the major technical upgrade would take place in June. However, Ethereum developer Tim Biko announced that the merger would take “a few months later”. At this point, it looks like the second largest blockchain will finally be able to move to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism this fall, but there is no specific date for now. That being said, Biko confirmed that Ethereum was in its “final chapter” of proof of work.
The Beacon Chain, the backbone of Proof-of-Stake Ethereum, shipped in early December 2020. The brand-new blockchain allowed ETH holders to convert it into ETH 2. However, ETH2 cannot be converted back until the Beacon chain merges with the main Proof-of-Work chain.Ethereum is expected to reduce its carbon footprint dramatically after switching to Proof-of-Stake. As per a U.Today report, its power consumption is expected to drop by 99.95%. The upgrade could be significant for Ethereum as cryptocurrencies with positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics look to gain more prominence.
In addition to a drastic reduction in energy usage, reducing mining will also allow Ethereum to reduce gas fees.