Ethereum Merge is happening

Kshitiz Sharan
3 min readSep 15, 2022

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A brief history of Ethereum

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference.

Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher and programmer. Buterin’s involvement in Ethereum was meant to take the blockchain technology that underlies bitcoin to the next level.

The Ethereum network went live on July 30, 2015. Since then, it has become one of the most popular platforms for decentralized applications and has attracted a large community of developers.

There are two main types of tokens on Ethereum: ether (ETH), which is the native currency of the network, and ERC20 tokens, which are created by developers on top of Ethereum. ETH is used to pay for transaction fees and gas costs, while ERC20 tokens can be used for a wide variety of purposes including representing assets or utility tokens.

Ethereum has faced its share of challenges over the years, from security vulnerabilities to scaling issues. But it remains one of the most active and innovative blockchain networks in operation today with a bright future ahead.

The fork that created Ethereum Classic

The fork that created Ethereum Classic was a turning point for the Ethereum community. It was a hard fork, which meant that the community had to decide which version of the software they wanted to use. The fork was necessary because of a disagreement on how to handle the DAO hack. The DAO was a decentralized autonomous organization built on top of Ethereum that raised over $150 million in crowdfunding. However, it was hacked, and the attackers stole over $50 million worth of Ether.

The community was divided on how to handle this hack. Some people thought that the funds should be returned to the investors, while others thought that the funds should be used to help improve Ethereum’s software. This division led to a hard fork, and two versions of Ethereum were created: Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Ethereum Classic is notable because it is one of the few major cryptocurrencies that is not based on Bitcoin’s codebase. Instead, it uses its own codebase, which is different from Bitcoin in several ways. For example, ETC has a different consensus algorithm (Proof-of-Work vs Proof-of-Stake), and it also has different smart contract functionality.

Overall, ETC is an important cryptocurrency because it represents one side of the debate on how to handle hacks and security breaches in blockchain projects. It will be interesting to see how this debate plays out in the future, and whether ETC can maintain its position as a top 10 cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

The Metropolis hard fork

The Metropolis hard fork was a planned hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain that occurred on October 17, 2017. The hard fork implemented several protocol improvements and optimizations, including support for multiple account types, increased gas limits, and improved security. The Metropolis hard fork also introduced a new virtual machine, known as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which is designed to be more robust and secure than the previous virtual machine. Finally, the Metropolis hard fork also implemented a new fee structure for transactions on the Ethereum network.

What is Ethereum Merge?

Ethereum will transition from proof of work to proof of stake through a merging of two blockchains.

The Ethereum blockchain that people use is known as “mainnet,” as distinguished from various “testnet” blockchains that are used only by developers.

When is Ethereum Merge?

15th September, 2022 is the date of Ethereum Merge.

The future of Ethereum

One of the most important things for the future of Ethereum is the adoption by businesses and governments. If more and more businesses start using Ethereum for their applications, it will become even more popular and valuable.

Another important thing for the future of Ethereum is the development of new technologies like quantum computing. With quantum computing, Ethereum could become even more powerful and secure.

Overall, the future of Ethereum looks very bright and there are a lot of exciting things happening in this space.

Conclusion

The long-awaited Ethereum merge is set to occur on September 15, 2022. This will be a historic moment for the world’s second largest cryptocurrency as it looks to finally unify its two separate chains. The move has been widely anticipated by the crypto community and is expected to increase the overall value of Ethereum.

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