Market Analysis Report (11 Aug 2022)

Ethereum’s third and final test environment network merge before the Ethereum blockchain moves from its Proof-of-Work consensus into Proof-of-Stake, has been successfully completed.

The Goerli testnet merge was the last of three public testnets to run through tests ahead of the mainnet Merge, which is expected to occur at the end of September. The two previous testnet merges, Ropsten and Sepolia, were largely successful as well.

The Ethereum Merge describes the network’s current mainnet merging with the Beacon Chain’s PoS system, setting the stage for future scaling upgrades, including sharding. The move is expected to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by 99.95%.

The move away from PoW is said to make the network cheaper, faster, and more environmentally friendly, however, it will also mark the end of an income stream for Ethereum miners who were being rewarded for securing the network.

In theory, to keep their activities intact and avoid the obsolescence of millions of dollars worth of mining hardware, miners are looking to back an Ethereum fork called EthereumPOW.