Analysis from Santiment indicates that 46.15% of Ethereum’s PoS nodes are controlled by only two addresses. Hours after the Merge, the first address has validated about 188 blocks or 28.97% of the nodes, and the second has validated 16.18%, or 105 blocks. On Twitter, the data became a controversial topic as users debated about the impact of the Merge on centralization for the largest network in the world. According to our #Ethereum Post Merge Inflation dashboard, 46.15% of the #proofofstake nodes for storing data, processing transactions, and adding new #blockchain blocks can be attributed to just two addresses. This heavy …

ETHPoW, a separatist Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain forked from Ethereum's Merge, went live on Sep. 15. However, the chain suffered technical issues after the launch, which put downward pressure on its ETHW token. ETHW price down 65% amid "ChainID" fiasco The price of ETHW has dropped by 65% since ETHPoW's launch to around $14 on Sep. 16, according to CoinMarketCap. At its lowest, the token was changing hands for $9.50. The losses coincided with a technical issues related to ETHPoW's ChainID." ChainIDs are identifiers that help users identify one blockchain from another. Thus, ETHPoW required a new ChainID to separate its …

Ethereum’s upgrade to proof-of-stake (PoS) may make it more vulnerable to government intervention and censorship, according to the lead investigator of Merkle Science. Speaking to Cointelegraph following the Ethereum Merge, Coby Morgan, a former FBI analyst, and the Lead Investigator for crypto compliance and forensic firm Merkle Science expressed his thoughts on some of the risks posed by Ethereum’s transition to PoS. While centralization issues have been broadly discussed leading up to The Merge, Moran suggested the prohibitive cost of becoming a validator could result in the consolidation of validator nodes to the bigger crypto firms like Binance, Coinbase, and …

Meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) is now officially the second largest proof-of-work (PoW) crypto in terms of market cap, following the Ethereum network's proof-of-stake upgrade on Sept. 15. Bitcoin (BTC) of course remains miles ahead of Dogecoin’s market cap of $7.83 billion, though the well-followed memecoin is still comfortably ahead of the third place PoW cryptocurrency, Ethereum Classic (ETC) (with a market cap of $4.69 billion), Litecoin (LTC) ($4.01 billion) and Monero (XMR) ($2.65 billion). One Dogecoin fan appeared to be in disbelief of Dogecoin’s rise to become the second largest PoW cryptocurrency, stating “who would have thought that this would …

Ethereum’s upgrade to proof-of-stake may have placed the cryptocurrency back in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Speaking to reporters after the Senate Banking Committee on Sept. 15, SEC chairman Gary Gensler reportedly said that cryptocurrencies and intermediaries that allow holders to “stake” their crypto may define it as a security under the Howey test, according to The Wall Street Journal. “From the coin’s perspective […] that’s another indicia that under the Howey test, the investing public is anticipating profits based on the efforts of others,” WSJ reported Gensler as saying. The comments came on the same …

The shedding of Ethereum’s energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) system is expected to see Ether (ETH) “flow into the institutional world,” according to a number of fund managers and co-founders. On Sept. 15, Ethereum officially transitioned to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which is expected to cut energy consumption used by the network by 99.95%, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The upgrade effectively ended the need for the Ethereum network to rely on miners and energy-guzzling mining hardware to validate transactions and build new blocks, as these functions are now replaced by validators who “stake” their ETH. "The merge will reduce worldwide …

Transitioning the Ethereum blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake has reduced its energy usage by more than 99% — and many climate activists have called for Bitcoin to follow suit. In a Thursday notice following the Merge, the United States-based Environmental Working Group, or EWG, announced it would be starting a $1-million campaign aimed at urging Bitcoin (BTC) to go green as opposed to using an “outdated protocol” like PoW. The announcement came amid environmental activity group Greenpeace launching a petition directly at Fidelity Investments to facilitate the transition to PoS. “Other cryptocurrency protocols have operated on efficient consensus mechanisms for …

Despite Ethereum’s historic transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, mining pools are increasingly signing up for mining on the upcoming proof-of-work (PoW) version of Ethereum. EthereumPoW, the community advocating for ETHPoW, or the PoW Ethereum version, has released a list of mining pools that are going to continue mining after the ETHW mainnet launch. According to EthereumPoW, some major Ethereum mining pools are going to continue mining despite Ethereum’s switch to the eco-friendly PoS consensus mechanism. At the time of writing, the list of ETHW mining pools composes a total of 19 various mining pools, including F2Pool, Poolin, AntPool, …

The Ethereum blockchain has successfully completed its shift away from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus following the merge of the Mainnet and the Beacon Chain. The Merge took place on Sep.15 as the network shifted to PoS seamlessly, seeing hardware-based miners replaced by validators that stake Ether (ETH) to process transactions, add new blocks and maintain the network. The most pertinent question in the cryptocurrency space is, what happens next? The Ethereum Foundation has always worked on a long roadmap of development milestones, and The Merge is no different. Happy birthday beacon chain! Here's an updated roadmap diagram for where …

As the Merge successfully shifted the Ethereum network to proof-of-stake (PoS), the ETH community seized the opportunity to celebrate by dropping artworks and music inspired by Ethereum. Nonfungible token (NFT) artist Beeple, the creator of one of the most expensive NFTs ever sold, celebrated the Ethereum Merge by publishing an illustration that shows a massive Ethereum logo that seemed to slowly form, assisted by what looks like scientists. Another community member who makes art influenced by street art and illustration dropped a moving artwork showing a static visual effect over a couple of Ether (ETH) logos. Adding a sense of …

The Ethereum Merge has officially taken place, marking the full transition of the network to proof-of-stake (PoS). On Sept. 15 at 06:44 UTC, the long-awaited Merge saw the merging of the Ethereum Mainnet execution layer and the Beacon Chain’s consensus layer at the Terminal Total Difficulty of 58750000000000000000000, meaning the network will no longer rely on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism. The Ethereum Foundation said the Merge will make the Ethereum network about 99.95% more energy efficient and will set the stage for future scaling solutions, including sharding. Speaking to Cointelegraph, StarkWare President and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson that “the immediate importance …

The Ethereum Merge is set to occur later today with the energy-efficiency focused transition expected to have a major impact on crypto investment and adoption, experts say. Speaking to Cointelegraph in the lead up to the Merge, StarkWare president and co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson noted that the Ethereum Merge will be the “first step in a process that will lead to exceedingly widespread adoption of Ethereum.” The immediate importance of the Merge is the dramatic effect on energy consumption. The Merge is expected to see Ethereum’s energy cut by 99.95% compared to its current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which requires large …