4 Misconceptions About Ethereum Merge Debunked

It’s happening. The Ethereum merge is going down in less than two days, as of writing. For those living under virtual rock, the highly anticipated Ethereum merger refers to the imminent integration of the Ethereum mainnet with the Beacon chain.

Following this, Ethereum will move to a proof-of-stake (PoS) verification system, which is said to use at least 99 percent less energy than blockchains operating under a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. We’ve already seen hard evidence of low-impact blockchains working under a PoS model in the real world, thanks to Tezos, so the promise is overwhelming.

The web3 community is abuzz with excitement surrounding what could be one of the most revolutionary moments in the short history of blockchain technology. But that left some members of the community a bit off very Excited. To help manage expectations, we’ve compiled a short list of currently the biggest misconceptions about the upcoming merger

1. Consolidation won’t make gas fees a thing of the past

As Ethereum moves to a more efficient PoS model, some users expect the efficiency gains of de-facto NFT blockchains to be reduced — or even eliminated — by paying gas fees for each transaction on the network.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Gas fees as we currently know them are here to follow consolidation for now — at least, under the main Ethereum blockchain. Because the upcoming merger is just the beginning of a host of upgrades planned for Ethereum. One of the more significant upgrades expected in the wake of Ethereum Merge is the introduction of sharding.

According to the official Ethereum website, sharding is “the process of horizontally splitting a database to spread the load.” This enables the Ethereum blockchain to meaningfully deal with instances of network congestion without building more power-hungry crypto mining firms. It can work with Layer 2 solutions to sustainably scale the existing Ethereum network and increase the number of possible transactions per second.

This is because sharding no longer requires a validator — a machine acting as a node in Ethereum — to physically store whatever transaction data it currently verifies. In the long term, this enables less-powerful machines to act as validators on the network, further encouraging the expansion of the Ethereum network.

So how will sharding affect gas fees? This may reduce gas fees for transactions made on the Layer-2 network, but chances are we’ll see more status quo for the main Layer-1 Ethereum network.

2. Consolidation will not transact quickly

Despite PoS blockchains generally running faster than their PoW counterparts, Merge isn’t going to do the same for Ethereum. You might not even notice it once it’s over, since the Ethereum team promises “zero downtime” for the upcoming changes. What improvement we will see in block time is described as marginal on the official Ethereum website, with a 10 percent increase in block production time described as “impossible to notice by users”.

Instead, Merge is focusing on making transactions on Ethereum more secure. Now, there will be a “finality” of the transaction by the introduction of the era. After consolidation, blocks of data on Ethereum will be bundled into epochs that validators can vote on and authenticate within a certain period. Once consensus is reached on the authenticity of a transaction, it is marked for “finalization” in the next epoch.

3. You cannot withdraw stocked ETH until a later date

Anyone interested in helping grow the Ethereum network by following Merge demand Be it for the long haul. Why? According to Ethereum’s official website, the staked ETH will be locked until the planned Shanghai Update in 2023. But it doesn’t end there. After the merger, all staking rewards and newly issued ETH will also be locked up on the Beacon chain.

As these funds remain unchanged for six to 12 months after the merger, Ethereum “hodlers” are eager to share ETH. need Till then hand of diamond. To become a validator on the post-merge Ethereum network, you need to have at least 32 ETH locked up. It’s roughly $50 grand as of writing. So what’s in it for Ethereum stakers until the update?

Fee tips. Although some staking rewards will be locked until the Shanghai update, stakers will still be immediately eligible for fee tips and miner extractable value (MEV). This is why gas fees aren’t going away anytime soon.

4. Consolidation is not an instant fix for blockchain’s environmental concerns

The key word here is “immediately.” Even with Ethereum reducing its current energy consumption to oblivion, another blockchain player still consumes more energy than smaller nations: Bitcoin. According to a recent White House report, Ethereum accounts for 20 to 39 percent of the blockchain industry’s global energy consumption. On the other hand, the highest estimate given for Bitcoin’s contribution to the blockchain industry’s energy consumption is 77 percent. Even after Ethereum shrinks its energy consumption substantially, Bitcoin’s continued existence as a PoW network will continue to put considerable pressure on the environment.

At the very least, the Ethereum merge signals the beginning of the end of NFTs as a potentially bad influence on the environment. Let’s hope the consolidation encourages other players in the blockchain space — especially Bitcoin — to follow suit. After all, it’s the only way we can get to the next chapter of the Internet, and grow it to its full potential.

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