A photo of one Twitter user’s computer screen as the system executed a convoluted process provoked both excitement and confusion recently.
It turns out that in doing so, Jacek Sieka announcement that Ethereum Nimbus and Nethermind clients were performing a “merger”. This would ideally begin Ethereum’s transition from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake.
How does this work?
Ethereum’s mainnet and the Beacon chain are separate. While the mainnet deals with smart contracts and uses proof-of-work, the Beacon Chain will bring the proof-of-stake mechanism to Ethereum. The referenced merger would allow developers to combine the two before Ethereum moves on to proof of stake as a whole.
After the merge, the Beacon chain would drive the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
Additionally, the Beacon Chain would provide staking and also allow fragment chains to enter the Ethereum ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Ethereum 2.0 or “the docking” should take place by the end of 2021 or in 2022. However, the merger of Nimbus and Nethermind is a good sign that progress is being made.
What’s more, it was also possible for other interested users to try out the merge for themselves.
Updates and clients
Ethereum’s Altair upgrade, slated for late October, will bring thin client support into the base consensus, among other changes.
Here, it’s also important to note that Nethermind and Nimbus were two of the five recipients of donations totaling $1.5 million for the development of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Additionally, Ethereum also announced a bug bounty program with doubled rewards until the upgrade occurs. This can be seen as a signal of how much Altair means in the overall scheme of Ethereum’s developmental roadmap.
What do the metrics tell us?
Over the past few days, Ethereum’s gas consumption has trended downward. In fact, it hit a one-month low, right before press time.
Ethereum mining revenues also fell to an 18-month low at $ 65,264.58. On the flip side, however, the number of addresses owning more than 0.1 coins hit an all-time high of 5,741,367. This is a very good sign for the Ethereum ecosystem.
