Ethereum tries to become a "sustainable" cryptocurrency with the Merge

Ethereum moves from Proof-of-work to Proof-of-stake, a more sustainable system that will be based on user participation in the blockchain itself.

Ethereum it is the second most widespread blockchain in the world.Since its foundation in 2013, its creator Vitalik Buterin he wanted to make it sustainable, eliminating one of the factors that make the sector particularly polluting.But it was still too early to do so, so Ethereum saw the light following in the wake of Bitcoin – the first blockchain in history – which uses a complex system to verify economic transactions.Is called proof-of-work and provides that some "nodes" of the network have the task of verifying transactions, receiving currency in exchange.To do this, greatly simplifying, they must solve complex mathematical problems, in a process that is called "mining”.The crypto gold rush has led many people to invest in mining, especially using computer video cards, which are used to make these calculations as quickly as possible.However, all this computational work has an energy cost:At the beginning of the year, Bitcoin alone consumed as much as the whole of Norway in a year.

Ethereum tested for sustainability

This was the point that Buterin wanted to resolve and finally, almost ten years later, it seems that the right moment has arrived.On September 19, Ethereum will abandon proof-of-work in favor of a system called proof-of-stake, in which instead of mathematical problems the participation of users in the blockchain itself will be based.They will therefore be the users who have invested in Ether (the cryptocurrency of this blockchain) to "guarantee" for ongoing transactions.An epochal event that is called Merge and it seems destined to change the sector forever, starting with Ethereum.If many users and investors say they are happy to finally be able to use the blockchain without environmental guilt, others are cautious or even ready to rebel against the choice.Furthermore, a new industry has arisen around mining billion-dollar business, who feels threatened by the rise of this alternative system.Merge also risks having cultural consequences in the sector.

Proof-of-work is a "dirty" system which however guarantees - according to its supporters - a certain equality between users, because anyone can mine Bitcoin, Ether, and so on.With proof-of-stake, however, the risk is that the users with the greatest participation (the stake, in fact) in the blockchain.In short, the richest people.Certainly legitimate fears, even if the criticism of the new system forgets how much mining is in fact in the hands of large and very large players who have invested millions in the so-called mining rig, the mega-computers that solve mathematical problems.In short, in addition to being polluting, proof-of-work does not even seem to be this guarantor of equality between the different nodes of the blockchain.Merge day is approaching and there are already those who fear divisions in the sector:more precisely, the forking, that process by which a blockchain is effectively "cloned" and modified to accommodate the needs of some users.What if the Ethereum mining lobby decides to jump ship by cloning the blockchain to keep Proof-of-work in use?At that point, it remains to be seen how many people will decide to stay on Ethereum, following the path to a crypto sector finally sustainable.