The Ethereum Merge occurred on September 15, 2022. This event marked Ethereum's transition from a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a more energy-efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism by merging the original Ethereum Mainnet with the Beacon Chain PoS system.
Key Details About the Merge
- The Merge shifted Ethereum’s consensus from energy-intensive mining (PoW) to staking (PoS), reducing energy consumption by over 99.5%.
- The transition did not require users to exchange tokens or take action with their wallets.
- The Merge set the foundation for future scalability upgrades like shard chains, which are planned to improve network capacity and performance.
- It was a major milestone in Ethereum’s development roadmap, replacing miners with stakers who validate transactions by locking up ETH.
Thus, the Ethereum Merge was a completed event as of mid-September 2022, representing a fundamental upgrade to the blockchain infrastructure of Ethereum.
