It’s merge week - the week that Ethereum will finally transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. The Ethereum foundation says that the Merge will be ‘the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum.’ The switch to PoS will replace energy-intensive mining, and instead secure the network with staked ETH.  

Why you should listen

The Merge represents the joining together or ‘merging’ of the execution layer, Ethereum as we know it today, with a consensus layer called the Beacon chain. The Beacon chain uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus model that will replace the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) model that the mainnet currently uses. The switch to PoS will replace energy-intensive mining, and instead secure the network with staked ETH.  

The merge is set to cut the emission rate of Ethereum by 90% (according to some analysts). PoS makes securing the network much cheaper than with Proof-of-Work because PoS validators are paid far less than PoW miners. Calculations from some analysts suggest that the inflation rate cut to Ethereum will be the equivalent of “three Bitcoin halvings”.  

Bitcoin bulls generally tout the halving as a powerful bullish tailwind and often focus on investing for around 4 years. If Ethereum bulls are right then the PoS transition will be 12 years of halving cycles in a single event. 

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