The merge is upon us. This event has the crypto community in a frenzy as we all have our eyes on what the future of Ethereum possibly could be. There were many rumors about how the merge would change the blockchain and though a lot of those rumors have been dispelled there is still a lot of hope and hype for the change.
Recently the blockchain successfully executed its 13th and final shadow fork with no issues found at all. The developers of the Ethereum chain have performed multiple tests to make sure that the merge goes off without a hitch. The second largest cryptocurrency in the world is making a change and any issues could be catastrophic.
The test today was the absolute final test as what developers are touting as a “dress rehearsal”. Make no mistake this merge is both massive and historic and will take place between September 13 and September 15.
The shadow fork , which was Ethereum’s 13th, went live earlier without any interruptions or major flaws. Shadow forks are trial runs that are focused and deal with aspects of the merge. The tests look for potential issues and simulate the shifting procedure of Ethereum’s mainnet as it switches from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, this will also end the process of mining on Ethereum.
The developers confirmed the successful launch of the shadow fork as Ethereum core developer Marius Van Der Wijden stated there were no issues. This is better than last week when a small hiccup occurred,a “missed block rate” spiked at 1,700%. A missed block rate measures the frequency of failure of the Ethereum network to verify blocks of transactions that have been slated to be validated. The typical percentage of blocks that encounter this issue is usually around 0.5% but during the Bellatrix upgrade that number went as high as 9%.
The problem was quickly attributed to a lack of being prepared by a number of node operators. The node operators,which are individuals and organizations that are used to keep the infrastructure of the backend operating, had not yet updated clients to the proper software to become ready for the merge.
The current test improved upon that issue and the missed block rate issue was shown to be functioning at a basically perfect rate. The “dress rehearsals” have been going on for the last few months as the developers have been attempting to locate any issues or scenarios that could cause any issues during the merge.
There are tens of billions of dollars in digital assets, apps, and decentralized finance instruments at stake – there is no margin for error. The merge is upon us , let us all hope it goes off without a hitch.
