Ethereum, the world's second-most valuable digital currency by market capitalization, completed a long-awaited upgrade to its system on September 15.
The move, known in the cryptocurrency community as "The Merge", is expected to slash energy costs and lay the groundwork for more use of crypto technology in mainstream applications, including finance.
The upgrade was one of the most eagerly anticipated events in crypto's history. But the process is complicated. Here's what to know about it.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is a blockchain - a publicly-viewable, distributed ledger that verifies and records all transactions on the network. The platform was conceived by Russian-born Canadian programmer, Vitalik Buterin, in 2013. What sets apart Ethereum's blockchain from Bitcoin's is that it allows users to run "smart contracts." These are computer programs stored on the blockchain that automatically perform a chain of actions when certain conditions are met. This functionality has allowed many people to build a large network of financial institutions, such as decentralized exchanges and lenders, and even other digital tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
What is ‘The Merge'?
The years-long effort has changed how transactions are verified on the Ethereum blockchain. In December 2020, Ethereum began running on two parallel blockchains, one using the legacy system to validate transactions and another blockchain using proof-of-stake for developers to test and improve. Thise merge combinesed the two blockchains into a single one using a proof-of-stake system for validations.
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