Merge Into Ethereum 2.0

The first phase of Ethereum 2.0 was launched in 2020, and the estimated earliest full release date will be in 2023. The long-waited Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is finally getting close (hopefully)!

This upgrade is attempting to improve the Ethereum network's scalability and security by modifying infrastructure, with the most notable change - switching from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. With rising demand on ETH, being able to increase the speed, efficiency and scalability is essential in terms of processing more transactions.

Ethereum has always been considered as the leader of the public chain. Trending projects like DeFi (2020) and DAO (2021) were carried out on Ethereum's public chain. Instead of dealing with long transaction validation times and high gas prices on Ethereum 1.0, the upgrade will allow up to 100,000 transactions per second by shardchain implementation to improve scalability.

The Beacon Chain:
Introduced PoS to the Ethereum ecosystem without changing the ETH we use today. In addition, it serves as the consensus layer, coordinate the network and an important precursor to the upcoming upgrade in scaling, such as sharding.

Besides improvement on scalability, security is considered as well in the Ethereum 2.0 plan. There will be at least 16,384 validators are required to deposit ETH on Ethereum 2.0, which makes Ethereum more decentralized and therefore safer.

Sharding:
It is an upgrade to improve Ethereum's scalability and capacity where everyone can run a node. Sharding not only provides more affordable transaction but also leverages the security of Ethereum because the new network is more decentralized and the smaller surface area will be attacked.

So, what will happen to your ETH on Ethereum 2.0?

Some people might be worried about token migration like transferring to a bigger exchange or in a cold wallet (ledger). For most ETH holders, the answer is no, you don't really need to do anything even if you bought it over the years on current Ethereum blockchain. The incoming launch of Ethereum 2.0 will not significantly affect holders' interactions with dapps, services or exchanges. On the other hand, for ETH holders who are interested in ETH staking, it might be a good opportunity for you to be more active in staking and you can start your ETH staking on MEXC Global!