Ethereum has now carried out its ninth shadow fork today and thus cleared one of the last hurdles on the way to the consensus switch to Proof of Stake. Shadow forks take place on small testnets, where only a stripped-down mainnet version is simulated and small changes are made to it. The most recent fork focused on testing Ethereum’s so-called MEV Boost feature.
MEV stands for “maximum extractable value” – i.e. income from block production that can be manipulated by changed sequences in the processing of transactions by miners, future validators. Ultimately, the prioritization of lucrative transactions should be prevented. The functionality originally applied for miners now had to be adapted for validators who will be responsible for block production in the future. The MEV Boost feature is designed to encourage competition among validators, increase profits, and increase network decentralization.
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Ethereum merge postponed?
This successfully tested another building block on the way to the merge, the consensus switch to Proof of Stake in the Ethereum mainnet. It could be a few weeks before that happens.
Originally planned for June, then postponed to July and finally August, the merge now seems to be able to take place in September at the earliest. According to the Ethereum developer “Superphiz”, the last major merge simulation is on the Görli testnet scheduled for August 11th. The Bellatrix update can then be carried out at the beginning of September in preparation for the merge. According to the current status, the developer dated it two weeks later, on September 19th. It cannot be ruled out that this date will be postponed again.
It’s worth the wait
The transition to Proof of Stake marks a turning point for Ethereum. Instead of computationally intensive mining, ether deposits will secure the network in the future. This not only opens up new investment opportunities by generating returns on the stake. Also, and above all, it means a drastic saving in energy consumption for Ethereum.
An estimated 99.98 percent of previous needs will be saved by the consensus switch, as Ethereum developer Ben Edgington told BTC-ECHO. As the second largest blockchain network still based on proof of work and by far the largest smart contract platform, running most DeFi applications and most NFT trading, the difference in the life cycle assessment of the entire crypto is likely to increase -Put down ecosystems. Currently, the estimated power consumption of Ethereum is according to Digiconomist at around 60 terawatt hours per year, comparable to Uzbekistan.
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