The long-awaited Ethereum (ETH) update, known as “the merge,” is finally here.
“And we finalized! Happy merge, all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem,” Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, said on Twitter on Sept. 15.
Google Search celebrated the “Ethereum merge” by depicting two bears, one white representing the consensus layer, and the other a brownish black, combining to make the ultimate Ethereum panda bear, a metaphor for post-merge Ethereum.
The merge switches the Ethereum network from an energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof of stake.
The staking mechanism Ethereum replaces the proof-of-work model where cryptocurrency miners use high-powered computers to complete complex mathematical functions known as hashes. The mining process requires an ever-increasing amount of electricity to verify Ethereum transactions before they are recorded on the public blockchain.
