The joy round Ethereum’s (ETH) upcoming improve, The Merge, which includes the merger of two blockchains — Mainnet Ethereum and Beacon Chain — has unknowingly spurred rumors throughout the group.
Termed essentially the most important improve within the historical past of Ethereum, The Merge does certainly mark the top of proof-of-work (PoW) for the Ethereum blockchain. Nevertheless, listed here are 5 misconceptions that stand out among the many relaxation.
False impression 1: Ethereum fuel charges will scale back after The Merge
Ethereum’s impending improve will scale back Ethereum’s notorious fuel charges (transaction charges) is without doubt one of the greatest misconceptions circulating amongst traders. Whereas decreased fuel charges tops each investor’s wishlist, The Merge is a change of consensus mechanism that can transition the Ethereum blockchain from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS).
As a substitute, decreasing fuel charges in Ethereum would require engaged on increasing the community capability and throughput. The developer group is at the moment engaged on a rollup-centric roadmap to make transactions cheaper.
False impression 2: Ethereum transactions might be quicker after The Merge
It’s secure to imagine that Ethereum transactions is not going to be noticeably quicker. Nevertheless, there’s some fact to this rumor, as Beacon Chain permits validators to publish a block each 12 seconds, which on the Mainnet is roughly 13.3 seconds.
Whereas Ethereum builders consider that transitioning to PoS will allow a ten% enhance in block manufacturing, the slight enchancment will go unnoticed by customers.
False impression 3: The Merge will end in downtime of the Ethereum blockchain
Contrasting the misconceptions that envision constructive outcomes for Ethereum from The Merge, a well-liked rumor means that the deliberate improve will momentarily take down the Ethereum blockchain.
The builders anticipate no downtime as blocks transition from being constructed utilizing PoW to being constructed utilizing PoS.
False impression 4: Traders will be capable of withdraw staked ETH after The Merge
Staked ETH (stETH), a cryptocurrency backed 1:1 by ETH, at the moment lies locked on the Beacon Chain. Whereas customers would love to have the ability to withdraw their stETH holdings, the developer group has confirmed that the improve doesn’t facilitate this transformation.
Withdrawal of stETH holdings might be made out there in the course of the subsequent main improve after The Merge, referred to as the Shanghai improve. In consequence, the belongings will stay locked and illiquid for a minimum of 6-12 months after the merger.
False impression 5: Validators won’t be able to withdraw ETH rewards til the Shanghai improve
Whereas stETH stays blocked for traders till withdrawals are resumed following the Shangai improve, validators can have fast entry to the price rewards and maximal extractable worth (MEV) earned throughout block proposals from the execution layer or Ethereum Mainnet.
Because the price compensation is not going to be newly issued tokens, it will likely be out there to the validator instantly.
Associated: Ethereum will outpace Visa with zkEVM Rollups, says Polygon co-founder
Sharing his tackle Ethereum’s untapped potential, Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic advised Cointelegraph that zkEVM Rollups, a brand new scaling answer for Ethereum, will enable the sensible contract protocol to outpace Visa by way of transaction throughput.
Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon’s different co-founder, echoed Bjelic’s ideas as he envisioned the answer slicing down Ethereum charges by 90% and growing transaction throughput to 40–50 transactions per second.
