Some things are just rumor, let’s get it right
The Ethereum merge is upon us , September will see the change of the Ethereum system as it merges with the Beacon chain. There are a lot of things being said about the change, even we at Solanews had some reports with a few misconceptions about how the merge would affect the blockchain. This article intends to clean up a a few errors and hit you with some facts about the impending merger and change of the beloved Ethereum network.
First and foremost , the merge will NOT reduce gas fees. The Ethereum chain is notorious for gas fees especially during times of nft minting phases for big projects. When Bored Apes Metaverse Otherworld began its minting phase gas prices could be seen beyond four thousand dollars. The Ethereum foundation was quick to make things clear about gas fees and how they will not be changed by the merge.
“Gas fees are a product of network demand relative to the network’s capacity. The merge deprecates the use of proof-of-work, transitioning to proof-of-stake for consensus, but does not significantly change any parameters that directly influence network capacity or throughput”
Basically this means there will be a change in the consensus mechanism but the fees are still based on the congestion and demand put on the network. Lower gas fees will require expansion of the network capacity and throughput, thankfully there is a “rollup-centric roadmap” being created by the community for dealing with the issue of high gas prices?
The thought that the merge will automatically make the blockchain faster is also not necessarily true. The beacon chain will increase speed as it allows for validators to publish a block every 12 seconds but that is only a 10% increase in the block production and will possibly go unnoticed by users.
Read More: Ethereum Deploys Final Network Test Successfully, Merge Coming Very Soon.
There is also the misconception that once the merge is live then the sETH or staked ETH will automatically be unlocked and able to be withdrawn. This is not the case due to the merge as a matter of fact the ability to withdraw ETH will not be available until the next upgrade happens which has been given the name “Shanghai”, this means the locked sETH may still be locked for another 6-12 months.
Finally the rumor that validators will not be able to withdraw ETH rewards til the Shanghai upgrade is false as those validators will have immediate access to the fee rewards and maximal extractable value. The fee compensation will not be new tokens so it will be immediately available.
The new merge will allow for some changes on the blockchain but it will not be the complete change that many thought it would be. There will be another upgrade with the Shanghai upgrade and then maybe some of these rumors will become reality.
