Ethereum 2.0 merge what YOU need to know

The long-awaited Ethereum merge also known as Eth2.0 has been announced to take place in Q3/Q4 2022 supposedly on the 19th of September.

The Ethereum Merge is a network upgrade that will change Ethereum's current consensus mechanism from “proof of work” to “proof of stake.” Along with other improvements, this milestone will help Ethereum deliver on its plan of becoming more scalable, secure, and sustainable.

The Merge represents the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain.

It's important to remember that initially, the Beacon Chain shipped separately from Mainet. Ethereum Mainnet with all its accounts, balances, smart contracts, and blockchain state continues to be secured by proof of work, even while the Beacon Chain runs in parallel using proof of stake. The approaching Merge is when these two systems finally come together, and proof-of-work is replaced permanently by proof-of-stake.

How users will get affected?

You do not need to do anything to protect your funds entering The Merge.

Despite swapping out proof-of-work, the entire history of Ethereum since genesis remains intact and unaltered after the transition to proof-of-stake. Any funds held in your wallet before the Merge will still be accessible after the Merge. No action is required to upgrade on your part.

But as we approach The Merge of Ethereum Mainnet, you should be on high alert for scams trying to take advantage of users during this transition. Do not send your ETH anywhere in an attempt to "upgrade to ETH2." There is no "ETH2" token, and there is nothing more you need to do for your funds to remain safe.

What about Gas Fees?

There is a misconception about the Merge and that it will reduce gas fees" it will not at least not directly". Gas fees have nothing to do with the consensus mechanism. Gas fees depend on the relative demand on the capacity of the network.

The real efforts are being focused on scaling user activity at layer 2 while enabling layer 1 Mainnet as a secure decentralized settlement layer.

But the proof of stake transition is really a key element to the development on the layer 2 infrastructure that in terms will reduce gas fees.

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