Although most industry observers are convinced that Ethereum’s imminent migration to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism might help the blockchain network usurp bitcoin, some are jumping at the chance to make snide comments.
Unsurprisingly, this has pushed Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin to respond.
Vitalik Buterin Silences Critics
Ethereum’s Merge is one of the most anticipated events in the crypto industry. The network currently uses the same consensus method as bitcoin, known as proof-of-work (PoW).
In contrast to PoW which requires miners to compete for rewards commensurate with the amount of computational power they can attain, the proof-of-stake mechanism randomly selects validators comparative to the total amount and time their ether has been staked — or locked up.
Self-proclaimed bitcoiner Nick Payton tweeted earlier today that the act of voting to alter the properties on PoS blockchains basically affirms that ether and other PoS assets qualify as securities.
Payton’s remark bears some similarities to the one made by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor. Saylor recently argued that ethereum is “obviously” a security as its network has undergone numerous fundamental changes over the years.
Responding to Payton, Buterin, who has been a long-time proponent of PoS, berated his claim as an “unmitigated bare-faced lie”. He noted that PoS doesn’t entail voting on protocol parameters just like PoW doesn’t. The ethereum wunderkind also highlighted that nodes reject invalid blocks in both PoW and PoS.
Notably, Buterin had previously responded to the famous Bitcoin developer and educator, Jimmy Song, who also railed against proof-of-stake.
All Eyes On The Merge
Ethereum developers have successfully tested the Merge on two public testnets: Ropsten and Sepolia. This has certainly brought the network steps closer to its long-awaited transition to Proof-of-Stake.
Next up, the update is set to debut on the Goerli testnet in the coming weeks, before it moves to the Ethereum mainnet. The shift is a major update that’s expected to cut ethereum’s energy use by 99% and help the network scale.
The much-delayed Merge is now scheduled for sometime in August this year.
While the Merge hype was one of the catalysts behind ETH’s bull run last year, it’s done little to stop the asset’s lackluster price action amid a multi-month-long market correction. Since peaking at $4,878 in November 2021, the second-most valued cryptocurrency has shed 77.9% of its value. It’s currently changing hands at around $1,079.38, putting Ethereum’s market cap at about $129.2 billion.
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