The Merge
Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus, completed on September 15, 2022.
What is The Merge?
The Merge was a major upgrade to Ethereum, finalized on September 15, 2022, marking the shift from energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. It integrated Ethereum’s original execution layer with the Beacon Chain, a PoS-based consensus layer introduced in December 2020. The Merge reduced Ethereum’s energy consumption by ~99.95%, improved scalability potential, and set the stage for future upgrades like sharding. It did not directly lower transaction fees but enabled mechanisms like EIP-1559 to optimize fee dynamics.
Related Terms
Market Cap
The total value of a digital asset’s circulating supply, calculated by multiplying its current price by the number of coins or tokens in circulation.
LIBOR
The former benchmark rate for short-term interbank loans in London, phased out in 2023 and replaced by SOFR due to manipulation scandals.
CLOB (Central Limit Order Book)
A trading mechanism that matches buy and sell orders for assets based on price-time priority, commonly used in both traditional and decentralized exchanges.
EIP-1559
An Ethereum upgrade that introduced a dynamic base fee for transactions, implemented in August 2021.
Decentralized Data Marketplace
A platform for trading data assets without centralized control.
Hashrate of Bitcoin
The total computational power used by the Bitcoin network to secure transactions and validate blocks, measured in hashes per second (H/s).