├── .github ├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE │ ├── new-question.md │ └── site-enhancement.md └── workflows │ └── deploy.yml ├── .gitignore ├── faqs ├── _template.md ├── are-there-any-risks-associated-with-the-merge.md ├── can-i-stay-on-eth-1.md ├── do-i-need-32-eth-to-run-validator.md ├── does-the-merge-solve-high-gas-prices.md ├── how-can-i-test-proof-of-stake-ethereum.md ├── how-do-participate-in-staking-on-eth-2.md ├── how-does-pos-differ-from-dpos.md ├── how-does-pos-reduce-eneregy-consumption.md ├── if-i-own-eth-do-i-need-to-do-anything.md ├── isnt-pos-less-secure-or-more-centralized-than-pow.md ├── what-happens-to-the-fees-paid-to-eth-miners-after-the-merge.md ├── what-is-the-cliffening.md ├── what-is-the-merge.md ├── when-is-the-merge-happening.md └── why-is-eth-switching-to-pos.md ├── introduction.md └── readme.md /.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/new-question.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | name: New Question 3 | about: Suggest and track progress on a new question for the site. 4 | title: 'Question: [question goes here]?' 5 | labels: help wanted 6 | assignees: '' 7 | 8 | --- 9 | 10 | This question is awaiting a community contribution. 11 | 12 | This question should be discussed in this issue. Once someone has submitted a PR that answers this question (Or the question has been added as an FAQ with no answer content) it will be linked and feedback for the answer should be given on the appropriate PR. 13 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/site-enhancement.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | name: Site Enhancement 3 | about: Suggest an idea for this project 4 | title: '' 5 | labels: enhancement 6 | assignees: '' 7 | 8 | --- 9 | 10 | **Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.** 11 | A clear and concise description of what the problem is. Ex. I'm always frustrated when [...] 12 | 13 | **Describe the solution you'd like** 14 | A clear and concise description of what you want to happen. 15 | 16 | **Describe alternatives you've considered** 17 | A clear and concise description of any alternative solutions or features you've considered. 18 | 19 | **Additional context** 20 | Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here. 21 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /.github/workflows/deploy.yml: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # This is a basic workflow to help you get started with Actions 2 | 3 | name: CI 4 | 5 | # Controls when the action will run. 6 | on: 7 | # Triggers the workflow on push or pull request events but only for the main branch 8 | push: 9 | branches: [ main ] 10 | 11 | # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab 12 | workflow_dispatch: 13 | 14 | jobs: 15 | curl: 16 | runs-on: ubuntu-latest 17 | steps: 18 | - name: curl 19 | uses: wei/curl@v1 20 | with: 21 | args: -X POST ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ETHMERGE_WEBHOOK }} 22 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /.gitignore: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Compiled source # 2 | ################### 3 | *.com 4 | *.class 5 | *.dll 6 | *.exe 7 | *.o 8 | *.so 9 | 10 | # Packages # 11 | ############ 12 | # it's better to unpack these files and commit the raw source 13 | # git has its own built in compression methods 14 | *.7z 15 | *.dmg 16 | *.gz 17 | *.iso 18 | *.jar 19 | *.rar 20 | *.tar 21 | *.zip 22 | 23 | # Logs and databases # 24 | ###################### 25 | *.log 26 | *.sql 27 | *.sqlite 28 | 29 | # OS generated files # 30 | ###################### 31 | .DS_Store 32 | .DS_Store? 33 | ._* 34 | .Spotlight-V100 35 | .Trashes 36 | ehthumbs.db 37 | Thumbs.db -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/_template.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: The Title of Your FAQ goes here. It should be in question format. 3 | weight: 1.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Author name / alias 7 | link: Where your attribution should link (eg. https://...) 8 | --- 9 | 10 | Your [Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/) content goes here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/are-there-any-risks-associated-with-the-merge.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: Are there any risks currently associated with "The Merge"? 3 | weight: 9.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Lamboshi 7 | link: https://twitter.com/L_Nakaghini 8 | - 9 | name: "@InsideTheSim" 10 | link: https://twitter.com/InsideTheSim 11 | --- 12 | There are always risks when making a large change to a protocol that is securing [hundreds of billions of dollars of assets](https://etherscan.io/stat/supply). "The Merge" can be thought of as replacing the engine of an airplane while it is still flying. Thankfully, the beacon chain — the current proof-of-stake (PoS) Ethereum chain - has been running since December 2020 without issues. 13 | 14 | There are currently 4 unique client implementations PoS Ethereum nodes. This means that if a PoS node operator experiences issues with a given implementation they will have the ability to switch to different client. The currently PoS network is the result of years of research and hard work. Participants can rest assured that before "The Merge" occurs the code in use will have been exhaustively checked, battle tested, and checked again. 15 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/can-i-stay-on-eth-1.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: Can I stay on the proof-of-work (PoW) version of Ethereum after "The Merge"? 3 | weight: 3 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: "@InsideTheSimulation" 7 | link: https://twitter.com/InsideTheSim 8 | --- 9 | 10 | No — there is only one Ethereum and the entire network will switch to the new proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus engine. 11 | When "The Merge" occurs the entire Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) chain _becomes_ the Ethereum PoS chain. 12 | 13 | If any nodes were to continue mining a PoW version of Ethereum the would be on their own minority fork and the economic value of their block rewards would be far below their cost of operation. Because miners are incentivized to operate at a profit, it is expected that all PoW participants will immediately begin to mine with their hardware on other non-Ethereum PoW blockchains. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/do-i-need-32-eth-to-run-validator.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: Do I really need 32 ETH in order to run a validator on the Ethereum network? That seems like a lot of money. 3 | weight: 5.1 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: takezo 7 | link: 8 | --- 9 | 10 | In short, no. 11 | 12 | 32 ETH is a lot of money, but it was an amount chosen with good reason. It is high enough to keep network participants honest due to the risk of lost ETH if they behave dishonestly, but it is also low enough so that a sufficient number of validators can exist on the network - allowing it to maintain a high level of security. Although technically you do need 32 ETH to activate and run a validator, a service such as [RocketPool](https://www.rocketpool.net/) allows someone with 17.6 or more ETH (16 ETH + 10% collateral) to be matched with 16 ETH deposited to the RocketPool smart contract by other stakers (who typically also have less than 32 ETH or don't want to run a validator themselves) so that you may run a validator without owning 32 ETH yourself. 13 | 14 | Their [guides for setting up your own node](https://docs.rocketpool.net/guides/) are very easy to follow, you can either [run on your own hardware](https://docs.rocketpool.net/guides/node/local/hardware.html) or [on a service like AWS](https://docs.rocketpool.net/guides/node/vps/providers.html). If you'd prefer to have another service manage your node (handling updates, monitoring, etc.), [allnodes](https://www.allnodes.com/rpl/staking) allows for this. 15 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/does-the-merge-solve-high-gas-prices.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: Does "The Merge" solve high gas prices (network fees)? 3 | weight: 6.1 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Lamboshi 7 | link: https://twitter.com/L_Nakaghini 8 | --- 9 | No. "The Merge" is limited in scope to upgrading Ethereum's consensus mechanism. In practice it will not have any effect on the current user experience of Ethereum today. Future updates on the Ethereum roadmap such as [sharding,](https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/shard-chains/) _will_ directly help to improve gas prices. At this time sharding is considered to be a [lower priority](https://github.com/ethereum/pm/issues/278) than "The Merge" — which eliminates wasteful proof-of-work (PoW) energy inefficiency — by a majority of the Ethereum community. 10 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/how-can-i-test-proof-of-stake-ethereum.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: How can I test proof-of-stake (PoS) Ethereum? 3 | weight: 9.1 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: TwoOfSpades 7 | link: https://www.reddit.com/user/TwoOfSpades/ 8 | --- 9 | 10 | **If you are interested in helping with "The Merge":** See [Rayonism](https://rayonism.io/) for in depth details on how to help contribute. 11 | 12 | **If you are a dapp developer:** Consider deploying your dapp on the testnet during the [ETHGlobal Scaling Ethereum hackathon](https://scaling.ethglobal.co/) (April 16 - May 14). The more the merrier! 13 | 14 | **If you are a L2 developer or a protocol developer who would like to help with the merge process:** introduce yourself in the [Eth R&D discord](https://discord.gg/BGuQfYwmVD). 15 | 16 | **If you are an Ethereum user:** Be on the lookout for announcements from your favorite dapps that will be deploying on the upcoming testnet. Help your favorite developers kick the tires and shake out the bugs by using their dapps within the safety of a test environment. 17 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/how-do-participate-in-staking-on-eth-2.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: How do I participate in proof-of-stake (PoS) on Ethereum? 3 | weight: 5.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Lamboshi 7 | link: https://twitter.com/L_Nakaghini 8 | --- 9 | 10 | There are many ways to participate in proof-of-stake (PoS) on Ethereum. A great resource newcomers is the [getting started post](https://reddit.com/r/ethstaker/comments/jjdxvw/welcome_to_rethstaker_the_home_for_ethereum/) on [/r/ethstaker](https://reddit.com/r/ethstaker/). If you prefer video-based content, Superphiz's [Intro to Eth2 & Staking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpkpW031RCI) ETHGlobal presentation is an excellent starting point. 11 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/how-does-pos-differ-from-dpos.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: How does proof-of-stake (PoS) differ from delegated-proof-of-stake (DPoS) used in other blockchain projects? 3 | weight: 4.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: 7 | link: 8 | --- 9 | 10 | **Delegated-proof-of-stake (DPoS)** is a consensus mechanism, and often also a governance mechanism, that was originally [pioneered by Bitshares](https://how.bitshares.works/en/master/technology/dpos.html) and has since been adopted in many blockchains. A DPoS chain's consensus is run by a small number of nodes, called **block producers** (eg. EOS has 21 [block producers](https://coincentral.com/what-is-an-eos-delegate/)). To become a block producer, one must first sign up as a **delegate**, and invite coin holders to vote for you. The delegates with the most coins voting for them become the block producers. 11 | 12 | The main challenges with DPoS are twofold: 13 | 14 | 1. The concentration of block producing rights into 21 delegates is a large centralization risk; even after being elected, the delegates could seize power, start censoring transactions that they dislike including those that vote against them, etc. 15 | 2. Coin voting is vulnerable to collusion and bribe attacks 16 | 17 | These issues are discussed in greater length in these posts: 18 | 19 | * [Notes on Blockchain Governance](https://vitalik.ca/general/2017/12/17/voting.html) 20 | * [Governance Part 2: Plutocracy Is Still Bad](https://vitalik.ca/general/2018/03/28/plutocracy.html) 21 | * [On Collusion](https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/04/03/collusion.html) 22 | 23 | These concerns are not mere theory; wealthy EOS ecosystem participants [have been caught making agreements to vote for each other](https://twitter.com/MapleLeafCap/status/1044958643731533825) or in exchange for compensation. 24 | 25 | **Proof-of-stake (PoS)** as implemented in Ethereum does not have this notion of coin voting; instead, users run their own nodes and stake their coins directly. Of course, users are free to "vote for" other participants by joining their staking pools instead of staking by themselves. However, the key difference is that this is not vulnerable to bribes and collusion in the same way because _the incentives pass through_: if you join a staking pool that performs well, you get a higher reward, and if you join a staking pool that attacks the network and gets [slashed](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/slashing-penalties-explained-2-minutes-ethereum-20-andreas-vlachos?trk=read_related_article-card_title), you will not be able to get all of your money back. This is different from coin voting, where someone who votes for a bad delegate does not suffer any personal penalties that someone who did not vote for that delegate does not suffer as well. This creates a very different and much safer set of incentives, and decentralization is boosted further by the very large number of stakers who avoid staking pools and instead stake by themselves. 26 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/how-does-pos-reduce-eneregy-consumption.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: How does proof-of-stake (PoS) reduce the energy consumption of the Ethereum blockchain? 3 | weight: 6.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Lamboshi 7 | link: https://twitter.com/L_Nakaghini 8 | - 9 | name: "@InsideTheSim" 10 | link: https://twitter.com/InsideTheSim 11 | --- 12 | 13 | In proof-of-work (PoW) whoever solves the block first gets the reward. Simply put, PoW is a race. If you have more hash rate than your competitors you are more likely to win. The end result of this arms race is that PoW miners run as many GPUs as they can at 100% load, 24-hours-a-day. This extreme power demand [continues to grow](https://www.iea.org/commentaries/bitcoin-energy-use-mined-the-gap) with the price of the block rewards they are attempting to earn. 14 | 15 | Alternatively, in proof-of-stake (PoS) block proposers are [randomly selected](https://benjaminion.xyz/eth2-annotated-spec/phase0/beacon-chain/#compute_proposer_index) — completely removing the requirement for an arms race. There is no way to increase the likelihood that any specific node is chosen to propose a block — so there is no need to consume more and more energy to improve your competitive chances. 16 | 17 | Because PoS nodes are estimated to be [99%](https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/ethereum-plans-to-cut-its-absurd-energy-consumption-by-99-percent) (or [more](https://twitter.com/sigp_io/status/1374979655782989824)) more efficient their PoW counterparts, PoS represents a massive leap forward for the energy efficiency of blockchain technology. 18 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/if-i-own-eth-do-i-need-to-do-anything.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: If I own any Ether (ETH) do I need to do anything? 3 | weight: 2.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: "@insideTheSim" 7 | link: https://twitter.com/InsideTheSim 8 | --- 9 | 10 | No! All ETH on the Ethereum network under the current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus engine 11 | will be unaffected by the switch to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus engine once "The Merge" occurs. 12 | Users will experience no change in their day-to-day experience using Ethereum — all changes related to "The Merge" are "under the hood" and related to the consensus mechanism that secures the network. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/isnt-pos-less-secure-or-more-centralized-than-pow.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: How does the decentralization of proof-of-stake (PoS) compare to proof-of-work (PoW)? 3 | weight: 3.1 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: 7 | link: 8 | --- 9 | 10 | In addition to improved efficiency, one of the other major motivations for the switch to proof-of-stake (PoS) is the increase in decentralization and censorship resistance that PoS offers. 11 | 12 | PoW and PoS do have many similarities. They are both fully permissionless systems where anyone can participate. They both rely on **economic sybil resistance**: the impact you have on the network, and therefore the rewards that you can earn, are proportional to the quantity of economic resources that you put in (computer hardware and electricity in PoW, and coins in PoS). However, there are important differences between the two. 13 | 14 | To join as a miner in a PoW network, you need to purchase mining hardware (often specialized hardware called "application-specific integrated circuits" or "ASICs"), have access to a cheap and reliable source of energy, and have a substantial level of technical skill to run and maintain your "mining farm". Small-scale mining is possible, but economies of scale make it difficult to compete with larger and wealthier mining farms. Furthermore, because of their large electricity consumption, **centralized authorities can easily detect mining farms and shut them down** or coerce them into participating in attacks. 15 | 16 | PoS, especially the form of proof of stake used in Ethereum, is much friendlier to smaller participants. To join as a validator and start staking, you need to provide 32 ETH (and if you have less than that, [decentralized staking pool tech based on multi-party computation](https://medium.com/coinmonks/eth2-secret-shared-validators-85824df8cbc0) is under development). The only hardware that you need to participate in PoS consensus is any reasonably modern consumer hardware (eg. a laptop) in order to run a node. Staking larger amounts of ETH requires more hardware to process more shards, but this is only expected to be a serious issue if you are staking millions of dollars. You can stake from anywhere, and you do not lose a significant amount of revenue from having an extra few hundred milliseconds of latency. 17 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/what-happens-to-the-fees-paid-to-eth-miners-after-the-merge.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: "What happens to the fees paid to Ethereum miners after the merge?" 3 | weight: 6.2 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: 7 | link: 8 | --- 9 | 10 | [EIP 1559](https://notes.ethereum.org/@vbuterin/eip-1559-faq) will have been activated on Ethereum before the merge, and so by the time the merge happens the bulk of Ethereum transaction fees will already have been burned for months. The remaining fees that are not burned post-EIP-1559 (called "tips" or "priority fees") will simply be paid to the block proposer of the proof-of-stake block instead of a proof-of-work miner. 11 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/what-is-the-cliffening.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: What is "The Triple Halvening"? 3 | weight: 7.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: "u/Bob-Rossi" 7 | link: https://www.reddit.com/user/Bob-Rossi 8 | - 9 | name: "u/decibels42" 10 | link: https://www.reddit.com/user/decibels42 11 | --- 12 | 13 | "The Triple Halvening" is the community name given to the large drop in ETH issuance that will occur once "The Merge" occurs and Ethereum is fully upgraded to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. “The Triple Halvening” is a play on Bitcoin's “Halvening”. While Bitcoin halves its issuance rate every 4 years, Ethereum will see its issuance rate reduced by roughly 90% at the time of "The Merge". That's equivalent to *3 Bitcoin "Halvenings" happening at once! Ethereum will experience an issuance reduction in an instant what will take an additional 12 years to be matched on Bitcoin's network. 14 | 15 | Under the current proof-of-work (PoW) model Ethereum issues roughly [13,500 ETH per day](https://etherscan.io/chart/blockreward) — an annual issuance of about `4.3%` of the total ETH supply. However, the PoS issuance model is determined based on how much ETH is actively being staked on the network. [Current projections](https://i.imgur.com/8u5zY4l.jpg) predict a drop to between a `0.3%` to `0.4%` issuance rate when "The Merge" occurs. 16 | 17 | For comparison, Bitcoin currently issues 900 BTC per day — an annual issuance of about `1.7%` of the total BTC supply. The next two "Halvenings" will reduce Bitcoin's issuance to approximately `0.8%` in 2024 and `0.4%` in 2028. With Ethereum’s expected drop in issuance after "The Merge" to between `0.3% - 0.4%` it will not be until 2028 that Bitcoin's issuance is again within range of Ethereum's. 18 | 19 | When "The Triple Halvening" is combined with the `BASEFEE` burn mechanism of [EIP-1559](https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/blob/master/EIPS/eip-1559.md) (live as of August 2021) it is projected that Ethereum's issuance will actually become deflationary during periods of high user activity. 20 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/what-is-the-merge.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: What is "The Merge"? 3 | weight: 1.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: Lamboshi 7 | link: https://twitter.com/L_Nakaghini 8 | --- 9 | "The Merge" is an upgrade to [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org) that swaps out the current [proof-of-work (PoW)](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pow/) consensus mechanism with a more eco-friendly, efficient, and secure [proof-of-stake (PoS)](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pos/) consensus mechanism. When the merge occurs the current PoW consensus mechanism will be fully deprecated and all blocks on Ethereum will be produced via PoS. 10 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/when-is-the-merge-happening.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: When is "The Merge" happening? 3 | weight: 1.1 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: "@Mkkoll" 7 | link: https://twitter.com/Mkkoll 8 | - 9 | name: /u/Chapo_Rouge 10 | link: https://reddit.com/u/Chapo_Rouge 11 | - 12 | name: "@InsideTheSim" 13 | link: https://twitter.com/InsideTheSim 14 | --- 15 | **Short Answer:**
16 | The target date for the merge is September 15th with a TTD of 58750000000000000000000. A live estimate is calculated here https://bordel.wtf/. 17 | 18 | **Long Answer:**
19 | The TTD (Terminal Total Difficulty) was agree'd in the Ethereum All Core Devs call #145 with a TTD of 58750000000000000000000. This is estimated to occur on September 15th with some variance in time of up to a few days due to fluctuations in network hashrate. 20 | 21 | The Ethereum PoS chain is currently running and will undergo its mainnet-ready hardfork, codenamed Bellatrix, on September 6th at epoch 144896. 22 | 23 | For more info about development progress go [here](https://github.com/ethereum/pm/blob/master/Merge/mainnet-readiness.md). 24 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /faqs/why-is-eth-switching-to-pos.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | title: Why is Ethereum switching to Proof of Stake (PoS)? 3 | weight: 3.0 4 | attribution: 5 | - 6 | name: /u/Chapo_Rouge 7 | link: https://reddit.com/u/chapo_rouge 8 | --- 9 | 10 | Ethereum in its current state is using [proof-of-work (PoW)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EUAcxhuoU4) to ensure consensus amongst the thousands of nodes in the network. While PoW is reliable and secure, it is also _extremely_ energy intensive. To produce each block on the network participants are required to use powerful and energy-hungry GPUs to solve a complex mathematical problem. 11 | 12 | Alternatively, [proof-of-stake (PoS)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psKDXvXdr7k) guarantees the security of the network in a different way. In PoS, anyone with 32 ETH can _deposit_ that ETH to become a _validator_, a node that participates in the network's consensus algorithm. Finalizing a block requires 2/3 of all active validators to sign off on it. Should a malicious actor try to tamper with the underlying protocol by using a large number of validators to revert a finalized block (the equivalent of a "51% attack" in PoW) their funds are slashed — meaning they lose a portion of their staked ETH. This makes attacks extremely expensive; it would be like a PoW system where if you use your mining hardware to attack the network then your hardware catches fire and is destroyed. 13 | 14 | PoS does not require the same energy-intensive hardware as PoW. Any relatively recent consumer hardware should be capable of running the software required to operate a 32 ETH staking node. If you deposit more than 32 ETH, you will be assigned multiple "validator slots" by the protocol, but you will still be able to run them from a single computer, though hardware requirements go up the more you stake. Most estimates put the expected energy savings from the switch to PoS to be around 99%. [[source1](https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/ethereum-plans-to-cut-its-absurd-energy-consumption-by-99-percent)] [[source2](https://twitter.com/sigp_io/status/1374979655782989824)] 15 | 16 | See also: 17 | 18 | * [A Proof of Stake Design Philosophy](https://medium.com/@VitalikButerin/a-proof-of-stake-design-philosophy-506585978d51) 19 | * [Why Proof of Stake (Nov 2020)](https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html) 20 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /introduction.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | headline:

Ethereum will become the most powerful, most used, most credibly-neutral, and most energy-efficient blockchain network in the world.

3 | attribution: 4 | - 5 | name: "u/Bob-Rossi" 6 | link: https://www.reddit.com/user/Bob-Rossi 7 | - 8 | name: "/u/Chapo_Rouge" 9 | link: https://reddit.com/u/Chapo_Rouge 10 | --- 11 | 12 | In 2013, Vitalik Buterin published the [whitepaper](https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/) that conceptualized “A Next-Generation Smart Contract and Decentralized Application Platform” – [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org). Initially launched with a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm in 2015, the [vision](https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/vision/) has always been for Ethereum to become an [energy-efficient](https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/networks/ethereum-plans-to-cut-its-absurd-energy-consumption-by-99-percent) proof-of-stake (PoS) network. For the first few years, the Ethereum community labored intensely to develop a PoS consensus mechanism that has the desired security and efficiency; going through ideas such as "[Slasher](https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/01/15/slasher-a-punitive-proof-of-stake-algorithm/)" and "[consensus by bet](https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/12/28/understanding-serenity-part-2-casper/)" until eventually settling on “[Casper the Friendly Finality Gadget](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.09437.pdf)” in 2017. At that point, focus switched to the transition - how does a community upgrade the heart of a decentralized network while said heart is still beating? 13 | 14 | The solution: [The beacon chain](https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/beacon-chain/). The beacon chain is a fully independent network which has a PoS consensus layer. It is running in parallel to the current Ethereum mainnet, where the consensus layer currently remains PoW. By keeping the PoS chain isolated from the main network a ready-to-ship solution is being perfected without risking the flourishing decentralized application platform of the Ethereum PoW chain. A one-way bridge from the PoW network to the PoS network began accepting deposits (as of November 2020) and the beacon chain is [currently](https://beaconscan.com/) [live](https://beaconcha.in/), ready for action and secured by millions of ETH deposited across over 240K validators. Since its launch in December 2020 the beacon chain has been an absolute success — finalizing 100% of its epochs with no downtime. 15 | 16 | While the beacon chain provides an elegant solution to transitioning the Ethereum consensus algorithm, the Ethereum network will not live split in two forever. To fully realize the transition to PoS, Ethereum’s history on the PoW network will be preserved as the PoS consensus layer is merged in as a replacement for PoW. This will be done through what is known as “The Merge”. Once completed, the PoW consensus layer in Ethereum will be removed and consensus on all future blocks on the Ethereum blockchain will be achieved by the new PoS consensus layer. None of the transactions done on the Ethereum network will be lost in this transition - "The Merge" will have no effect on the data layer of the Ethereum network. "The Merge" is not the launch of a new Ethereum version, but rather an exciting upgrade to the consensus layer - bringing Ethereum in line with the original vision laid out at its genesis. 17 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /readme.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # ethmerge.com Content 2 | 3 | This repo contains [Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/) files that are fetched during the build process for 4 | [ethmerge.com](https://ethmerge.com). Contributions are welcome in the form of Pull Requests. ❤️ 5 | 6 | I would **love** to see various authoritative voices in our community provide content for this project. My time (InsideTheSim) is best spent working on UI / UX challenges as the content accrues. Any help spreading the word about this project is greatly appreciated! 7 | 8 | # Contributing 9 | ## Introduction 10 | The introduction copy lives in the `/introduction.md` file at the root of the repo and is actiavely being worked on on the [`feature/intro`](https://github.com/InsideTheSim/ethmerge.com-content/tree/feature/intro) branch. See [this issue](https://github.com/InsideTheSim/ethmerge.com-content/issues/27) for discussion around drafting content for the Introduction. 11 | 12 | ## FAQs 13 | ### Existing FAQs 14 | There are a number of pre-seeded FAQs to be worked on. Please check the open [Issues](https://github.com/InsideTheSim/ethmerge.com-content/issues) on the repo to see which questions have not yet been started / claimed by a community member before you begin your work. 15 | 16 | Answers to questions shoud be opened as [Pull Requests](https://github.com/InsideTheSim/ethmerge.com-content/pulls) with the format: `Answer: "Name of the question here?"` 17 | 18 | ### New FAQs 19 | To create a new FAQ create a new `.md` file in the `/faqs` directory using the structure provided in the `/faqs/_template.md` file. Do not modify the `_template.md` file directly. 20 | 21 | The title of your FAQ `.md` file should generally be a kebab-case version of your FAQ question title. 22 | 23 | In order to place your FAQ appropriately in the list use the `weight` property in the `.md` front-matter. The `weight` is a float value so if you want to put your FAQ immediately after a question that already exists you should: 24 | 25 | - Open the `.md` file for the question that you wish to place your question after. 26 | - Find the `weight` value for the question - let's say it's `5.0`. 27 | - Add a weight of `5.1` to your own question. 28 | 29 | If two files have the same weight defined then they will be sorted by creation date with the oldest file being listed first. 30 | 31 | Please try to keep similar topic FAQs logically grouped together. 32 | 33 | ## Authorship 34 | Anonymous authorship is acceptable - but given you'll need a GitHub account to contribute anyways please consider at least listing that if you're not comfortable linking your answer to a public internet profile such as Twitter or Reddit. 35 | 36 | Questions can have multiple author attributions - and they'll be shown in order of contribution - not sorted by magnitude except in cases of extreme outliers. So, **just because a question has an answer please don't feel like you can't submit improvements to it!** 37 | 38 | ## Notice 39 | Not all contributions are guaranteed to be merged - but all contributions are appreciated. 40 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------