Ethereum network update reduces energy consumption by up to 99.95 percent

Ethereum’s massive overhaul, previously known as Consolidation, finally happened on Thursday, September 15, 2022, moving the digital engine at the heart of the second-largest cryptocurrency to a much more energy efficient system after years of development and delays.

To quote CoinDesk, trading one way of running a blockchain, known as proof of work, for another, known as proof of stake, is no small feat.

“The metaphor I use is the idea of ​​turning off the engine of a moving car. I like to think of it as switching from gasoline to electricity,” Justin Drake, a researcher at the nonprofit Ethereum Foundation, told CoinDesk before the merger.

The payoff potential is huge. Ethereum should now consume 99.9 percent or less of energy. From an energy consumption perspective, it looks like Finland has suddenly shut down its power grid, according to one estimate.

Ethereum developers say the upgrade will make the network an ecosystem that includes cryptocurrency exchanges, lending companies, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other applications worth USD 60 billion or IDR 894 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 14,901 per US dollar). ) is safer and more secure. measurable.

More than 41,000 people watched on YouTube about the Ethereum Mainnet Merge Viewing Party, the new Ethereum proof-of-stake network operator’s validator behaving as expected and writing new transactions to the blockchain ledger.

In the minutes immediately following the merger, ETH was trading at USD 1,594, down about 0.81 percent in the last 24 hours.