Wednesday, May 19th 2021

Ethereum to Transition to Proof of Stake in Coming Months, Reducing Energy Consumption by 99.95%

The deployment of PoS (Proof of Stake) in Ethereum - called The Merge - has been a target for the development teams for a while now - and yet it still hasn't see the light of day. However, we have been slowly clambering towards it, and the Ethereum team has issued a blog post that places that transition "in the coming months", which likely means a hard PoS fork closer to years' end. Of course, the timeline still gives miners some time make up for hardware investment costs, but perhaps some of them (the smallest ones at least) will start offloading their graphics cards soon so as to enjoy the higher, current second-hand pricing for the latest and greatest GPUs.

The implementation of PoS in Ethereum is expected to reduce power consumption by a ridiculous 95.95% - from a country-sized 44.49 TWh with the current PoW (Proof of Work) technology down to a comparably measly 2.62 megawatt estimate. The Merge should therefore aid Ethereum in not only becoming greener, but also increasing network security, reducing likelihood of 51% attacks, and allowing for further operational scaling of the network. The more skeptical of you will say that miners will just choose another profitable coin to mine, but we have to consider Ethereum's market cap and current valuation - there is currently no other coin that seems to be able to absorb the hashing power currently devoted to Ethereum without crashing its profitability for any and everyone involved. We might be looking at a relatively healthy second-hand graphics card market by the end of the year. Wouldn't that be nice?
Source: Blog.Ethereum
Add your own comment

86 Comments on Ethereum to Transition to Proof of Stake in Coming Months, Reducing Energy Consumption by 99.95%

#76
lexluthermiester
R-T-BNot based on compute so much as who holds the coins. If you have 32 eth (I think that's the number) you can act as one of the few "validators" that run the blockchain. In exchange, you are rewarded, but for your "staked" eth quantity rather than compute power. Thus there is no real incentive to overpower your node beyond just a server and cpu. There is incentive to "stake" more coins (which are then frozen).

Eth staking pools already exist for the 99% with less than 32 eth. They are potential points for scams of course, but so were mining pools really.

That's the basics, as I understand them.
Ok, but there still has to be a generation aspect of the remaining portion of the block chain that is undiscovered. There is a finite limit but that has not been reached as I understand. So how would that be generated? There has to be at least some form of mining involved unless they're just going to leave the remainder undiscovered.
Posted on Reply
#77
R-T-B
lexluthermiesterOk, but there still has to be a generation aspect of the remaining portion of the block chain that is undiscovered. There is a finite limit but that has not been reached as I understand. So how would that be generated? There has to be at least some form of mining involved unless they're just going to leave the remainder undiscovered.
I'm not entirely up to date on the technical details, but would assume "validators" work on future blocks on equal terms, only without the incentive for massive, overpowered rigs. The reward distribution is however modified to be based on staked coins rather than "finders first."
Posted on Reply
#78
lexluthermiester
R-T-BI'm not entirely up to date on the technical details, but would assume "validators" work on future blocks on equal terms, only without the incentive for massive, overpowered rigs. The reward distribution is however modified to be based on staked coins rather than "finders first."
Interesting. If true, this could be an amazing way to continue ETH without all the downsides.
Posted on Reply
#79
R-T-B
lexluthermiesterInteresting. If true, this could be an amazing way to continue ETH without all the downsides.
I think I'm right on my representation, but of course, words are cheap. We need action.
Posted on Reply
#80
lexluthermiester
R-T-BI think I'm right on my representation, but of course, words are cheap. We need action.
I've been reading elsewhere. You more or less hit the nail on the head.
Posted on Reply
#81
lemkeant
MetroidETH devs have missed all deadlines possible to this date, pos should have been done by 2018 and to this date is not finished yet, so yeah go with the dev blog, invest on or keep holding it then like many other sheeps stay hoping they deliver in the coming months.
I've been critical of your crypto posts before, but all of your posts have hit the nail on the head in very recent history.

0% chance this is done this year. Maybe they get some code deployed, but finished or even out of testing? Nope

My other prediction, this doesnt help gpu availability as much as people think. Although I hope it does, I dont think the days of $400 3080's are coming
Posted on Reply
#82
Shrek
So can someone explain to me why so much energy had to be squandered in the first place?
Posted on Reply
#83
R-T-B
Andy ShiekhSo can someone explain to me why so much energy had to be squandered in the first place?
PoW is the only reliable/fair way to start the issuance of coins. They can't just hand them out randomly to friends.
Posted on Reply
#85
R-T-B
Andy ShiekhOne sells them?
Then you are just luring rich people with the promise of more riches. That's the definition of a scam imo. There will be no equality in distribution.

I know, everyone likes to call crypto a scam, but some coins are actually trying to be fair and avoid the label.
Posted on Reply
#86
medi01
Good to see that even financial bubbles are "going green".... :roll:
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Nov 21st, 2024 21:36 EST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts