Ethereum is on the verge of a major upgrade – and people are hungry to find out more. Google Trends data shows that people across the world are curious about what the heck the “Ethereum Merge” is.
Interest in the term hit 52/100 during the week of Mar. 13 to Mar. 19. The chart shows the score could potentially hit a 100 in the latest week, but data is incomplete for the period still. Per data, Canadians, Australians, and Singaporeans are the most interested in Ethereum’s upgrade.
The short of the “Ethereum Merge” or “The Merge” is: Ethereum is throwing in the towel on its age-old “consensus mechanism.” It will part from age-old convention, pivoting from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). With that, the days of GPU mining will end – and be replaced by a far more efficient and environmentally-friendly way of confirming transactions.
Broadly, The Merge is a part of a multi-part upgrade called Ethereum 2.0 or Eth2. The Merge is the part where Ethereum’s legacy chain – and its PoW implementation – will be bridged over to the new Beacon Chain (which will add the Proof of Stake element). The chain will then be upgraded to the PoS Ethereum and will change from a PoW protocol to a PoS protocol.
The Merge is reportedly expected to launch in the Q2 2022. Maxis expect that the upgrade will resolve many of Ethereum’s famous pain points – namely transaction fees and speed. However, it’s too early to say whether or not the network’s many problems will be “fixed” by the upgrade – or if the problem will grow to its newfound capacity.
Today, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap surged 7%, trading at $3,300.