Blockchain Ethereum has completed an upgrade to its system, known a the Merge.
In Brief:
The Merge means a change to how new transactions will be verified on Ethereum.
The aim is to reduce energy consumption and cost.
It’s also a step toward making the use of crypto technology more mainstream.
What does this mean?
Ethereum has been working on this upgrade for many years and completed it on Thursday 15 September - though the team says that a lot of monitoring is needed to ensure the upgrade has worked properly with no problems.
Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin says that it’s the “first step” toward Ethereum being a “very mature system”. The blockchain, which already powers much of the burgeoning Web3 system, still faces scepticism and hesitancy from mainstream financial services, often due to concerns around regulation and security — and, often, energy consumption as banks are increasingly looking at their carbon footprint.
The change replaces the current “proof of work” system which was behind a huge amount of energy consumption, and removes the need for Ethereum “miners”.
