Ether’s price rallied to hit a two-month high, leading the pack of rising crypto prices today on signs that a plan to upgrade the Ethereum blockchain passed a major test, potentially paving the way for one of the most significant changes in the cryptocurrency sector.
Ether’s software upgrades The Merge is set to take the blockchain to a system called Proof of Stake, in which staked Ether tokens will order transactions from its current design, Proof of Work. This mechanism uses powerful computers to collect transactions.
The third and final ‘Goerli’ test environment network merge before the Ethereum blockchain makes its long-awaited move to proof-of-stake has successfully been completed. Goerlich was the last of three public testnets to run through a dress rehearsal of the Merge. After this, the mainnet Merge is expected to occur sometime at the end of September.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin retweeted a post saying the test had activated proof-of-stake. In another tweet, Tim Beiko, a computer scientist who coordinates Ethereum developers, posted a screenshot suggesting the difficulty of the planned Merge had been successful.
The test network will be merging with a so-called proof-of-stake test network. On a smaller scale, this transition will mimic Ethereum’s transition to a more energy-efficient system for ordering transactions.
Soon, the current Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system. This will mark the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum and the complete transition to proof-of-stake. This sets the stage for future scaling upgrades, including sharding. The Merge will reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by around 99.95%, it claims on its website.
In proof-of-stake, so-called validators use Ether stacks to order transactions on the network. Currently, powerful computers solve complex puzzles to accomplish the same task using more energy.
Back in 2016, soon after Ethereum underwent a software upgrade to reverse a significant hack, it experienced denial-of-service attacks. If everything goes smoothly, no one should notice that the Merge has happened, Tim Beiko, who coordinates Ethereum developers, said in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
The second largest cryptocurrency and the coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain has surged about 67% since digital-asset prices bottomed in June and has outperformed crypto market benchmark Bitcoin.