Ethereum network upgrade: the merge
With the merge becoming a reality, interest in ETH staking is stronger than ever.
The Ethereum network upgrade – called “the merge” – will change its infrastructure to make it more energy efficient, scalable and secure. Over the last few weeks, a number of important milestones were reached that investors should know about for investments in Ethereum and ETH staking.
The development towards ETH2 is in full swing: Succesful testnet merge
"The merge” is one of the most critical events in the further development of Ethereum. Since December 2020, the Ethereum Beacon chain, based on the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm is running in parallel with the proof-of-work (PoW) Ethereum blockchain that we all use to send transactions and run smart contracts. In the merge, the Beacon chain and the Ethereum blockchain will be merged into one PoS-based blockchain, containing all data and functionality from Ethereum.
The merge was successfully executed on the Kiln testnet, with the PoS-validators producing blocks containing Ethereum transactions. According to the Ethereum developers, this is expected to be the last public test, which increases hopes that the mainnet merge will happen soon.
Validator queue has reached a record height
The successful testnet merge again boosted investors’ confidence in Ethereum staking, the validator queue reached a record height of over 420,000 ETH. Ethereum limits the number of new validators to 4 per epoch (around 10 minutes), meaning that only a limited amount of funds can be staked at the same time. The validator queue appears to be an indicator of a rising interest in Ethereum staking.
10 million ETH locked
On 11 March, Ethereum reached another important milestone, with a total of 10 million ETH staked in Ethereum. At the current ETH price, this represents over USD 33 billion worth of assets securing the Ethereum PoS blockchain.
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