Ethereum merge is a shift of Eth 1.0 to Eth 2.0 due to the genuine issues that were faced by the oldest version also called Mainnet such as scalability, less efficiency, and high transaction fee. If so, do you want to know more about the Ethereum merge? Then I highly recommend you stay tightly bound to this article. So, there's no time to waste, let's get started.
Ethereum Merge: What You Need to Know
Ethereum Merge is a transition of the Ethereum blockchain from its previous version (Ethereum 1.0 or Mainnet) to the latest version (Ethereum 2.0 or Layer-2 solution). Ethereum 1.0 was using the proof of work (PoW) consensus due to which a lot of the problems were associated with this version. So, it was upgraded to amend all the given problems in the previous version, and in the upgrader version (Ethereum 2.0) the (PoW) consensus was replaced by the consensus proof of stake (PoS).
Following problems were associated with the Mainnet such as scalability, Fixed block size, and the use of oldest consensus (PoW). Due to this, it requires more time, resources, and power utilization to verify the transactions. To overcome all these issues ETH 1.0 merge was introduced to ETH 2.0 and various solutions came such as (PoS) consensus and the sharding.
Here are some key features you need to know about the Ethereum merge:
- Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS): ETH 1.0 was previously using the (PoW) consensus. In this type of consensus, the mining node solves mathematical puzzles to verify the transaction. Which is itself a time taking process as well as you must have high-performance resources to do this task. The use of (PoW) consensus slows down the transaction speed which leads to a high transaction fee. Due to these reasons, it is very important to replace (PoW) with (PoS). In (PoS), you don't need to invest in resources to perform the transaction validation. In fact, here you just need enough crypto to stake and the process is called staking. In the staking process, a person with the aim to validate the transaction will first stake enough amount to win the chance of transaction validation. After that, he can validate the transaction. The staking process performs fast transactions with a cheap transaction fee.
- Slower Transaction to Higher Transaction Speed: Eth 1.0 used the (PoW) consensus, it takes more time to validate the transaction because to verify the transaction mining node will have to pass the tough challenges called mathematical puzzles, which ultimately take more time and slow down the transaction speed. But in (PoS), you really don’t need to solve mathematical puzzles. In fact, in this consensus, you just have enough amount to stake and by staking you can validate the transaction. Which is not time taking and the transaction speed is fast compared to (PoW).
- Fixed Block to Flexible Block Size: ETH 1.0 has a fixed size block, in the fixed size of the block allows a very limited transaction for execution. As a result, the users had to wait for a long duration due to the high congestion network, which ultimately led to the high transaction fee. But in ETH 2.0, the block size is variable instead of fixed, which means you can execute a number of transactions according to your need.
- Limited Scalability to Sharding: ETH 1.0 limits the network scalability due to the fixed block size and ETH 2.0 resolves this issue using the sharding mechanism. Sharding is a process in which, blockchain is broken up into smaller and more manageable pieces called shards, which make it more accessible and efficient for its users.
Final Words
In the final thoughts, the initial version of blockchain was Ethereum 1.0 which was using the oldest technology such as (PoW). Due to the usage of the oldest mechanisms, it was not providing effective and efficient solutions. Such as it was very slow in performance and had high transaction fees. In this result, Ethereum 2.0 was introduced to solve all the given issues that are faced by the oldest version. It provides an effective solution to perform a fast and cheap transaction such as (PoS) consensus and sharding.
