THE MERGE

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For those who follow the crypto world on a daily basis, the Merge event is probably the most anticipated and trending in the short history of blockchain. Ethereum is the second largest crypto asset by market capitalization (currently around $340B) and its EVM, Ethereum Virtual Machine, has brought numerous use cases, revolutionizing the DeFi market.
There are already many differences between the Bitcoin Network and the Ethereum Mainnet. However, the Merge is the event that will increase the gap between these networks. The blockchain conceived by Buterin and Wood is in a transition stage. Ethereum prepares itself to switch from the Proof-of-Work protocol, used by Bitcoin, to Proof-of-Stake. No blockchain has ever changed its consensus mechanism, this is a milestone indeed. Furthermore, if we think about the value of the assets traded on this blockchain, we understand developers’ responsibility for taking this historic step for Ethereum as well as for the whole blockchain ecosystem.

Ethereum 2.0
The transition to PoS is a process shaped in 2018. Initially, the consensus mechanism’s switch was called Ethereum 2.0 or, briefly, Eth2. That title has been followed by misunderstandings, confusion and multiple scam attempts. The term ETH2 has generated a series of misinterpretations by the community, first of all the existence of an additional coin besides ETH. Eth2 looked like a digital currency created specifically for the PoS transition. Many phishing scams have occurred over the years: users were asked to send their Ether (ETH) to receive the same amount of ETH2, which obviously did not happen. After complaints and numerous phishing attacks, the developers themselves, through a governance proposal, decide to change the name of the event from Ethereum 2.0 to The Merge.

Why The Merge?
One of the Proof-of-Stake key points is definitely scalability. During peak traffic periods, many transactions had long queue time, in addition to expensive gas fees (transaction costs). Upon the Merge completion, all transactions will be delegated to a new layer, the Beacon Chain, which will take care of validating the transactions. Beyond scalability, the PoS consensus mechanism will lead to lower energy consumption, a fundamental topic for the Ethereum Foundation. According to developers, that step, by eliminating the miners, will lead to a 99% decrease in consumption.
Last but not least, it’s the reduction of Ether in circulation. Thanks to the updates made in 2021, the Merge realization would bring ETH inflation rate from 3.5% to almost 0%. This would introduce a deflationary trend, increasing long-term ETH scarcity.

Testnet & updates
The renowned Merge was already scheduled last year but many technical issues have delayed the process at least until Q2/Q3 2022. The Kiln testnet is online and several stress tests have already been carried out. Developers need to analyze testnet reactions methodically, fixing coding issues and bugs. The most important event occurred on March 15 when the switch from PoW to PoS was successfully carried out in the aforementioned Kiln testnet.

Why you should learn blockchain?
DeFi, Agrifood, IoT, Sharing Economy, Insurance, Art, Gaming, Law. Blockchain’s use cases are endless, and understanding the way to make this technology even more efficient is just the beginning. One of the most relevant field of application is the industrial sector, where countless jobs of the future could theoretically be replaced by smart contracts, oracles and AI.

Here’s what it takes:
By checking different job vacancies, this is a list of the most relevant skills and requirements:

Understanding of algorithms, data security, decentralized technologies and data structures.
A solid background in coding skills, with at least one of the following programming languages: Python, JavaScript, JAVA, C, C++.
General understanding of ledgers, blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
Expertise in performance management and anomaly detection.
At least basic experience in building blockchain frameworks and business applications.

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