Ethereum Merge: ¿qué significa para los criptopagos? (Paulina L)

The switch to Ethereum PoS, previously known as Ethereum 2.0, can be easily credited as the event of the decade in the crypto industry. Riddled with multiple technical issues and subject to numerous postponements, it looks like the transition is finally nudging closer to its final stage. The announced Ethereum Merge date was between September 13 and September 19. Once Ethereum 2.0 got put in place, the entire industry transformed in an instant causing massive changes to the landscape of the crypto market. Still, ordinary users, as well as businesses are among the main beneficiaries of this transformation. 

Puntos clave:

• Ethereum Merge convertirá la red en una cadena de bloques de prueba de participación.
• Ethereum 2.0 será más escalable y energéticamente eficiente.

¿Qué es Ethereum 2.0 y la fusión?

Conozcamos la tecnología detrás de Ethereum 2.0 y los detalles de la próxima fusión.

Ethereum 2.0

 

Any type of system, be it some computer software or a car, at some point, during its lifetime requires an upgrade that can fix some of its problems. Ethereum 2.0 is exactly that only applied to blockchain technology. Basically, Ethereum 2.0 is an upgrade to the Ethereum network which manifests itself in the shift from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. In other words, Ethereum is getting a new consensus mechanism governing its network operations. The switch to the Proof-of-Stake consensus model will allow ETH holders to stake their coins in order to generate rewards for their contribution.

La fusión ETH

La fusión de Ethereum es un término utilizado para describir el proceso de unión de Ethereum a la capa de ejecución existente de Ethereum (la red principal) con la nueva capa de consenso de prueba de participación, Beacon Chain.

Currently, the Beacon Chain is separated from Mainnet. So, the Ethereum mainnet remains to be secured by proof-of-work with all accounts, balances, smart contracts, and blockchain state, while the Beacon Chain runs in parallel using proof-of-stake. The Merge that will happen in a few days will make these two systems finally come together, which will cause the proof-of-work consensus to be replaced permanently by Proof-of-Stake.

¿Qué sucedió exactamente durante la Fusión?

La prueba de trabajo ha estado asegurando Ethereum Mainnet desde su inicio. Es el mecanismo de consenso que impulsa la antigua cadena de bloques de Ethereum que todos amamos. Ayuda a registrar transacciones, contratos inteligentes y saldos.

Yet, the Ethereum developers have always wanted to eventually switch the network to Proof-of-Stake. As a result of developers’ efforts, the Beacon Chain was finally founded on December 1, 2020. The Beacon Chain became a separate network, which now has been operating for almost two years, running in parallel to the Mainnet.

Mainnet transactions have not been processed by the Beacon Chain. Instead, it reaches a consensus on its own network by agreeing on active validators and their account balances. Yet, soon, the Beacon Chain will become the consensus mechanism for all network data after the Merge, including execution layer transactions and account balances.

The Merge marks the official adoption of the Beacon Chain as the engine of block creation. Thus, mining will cease to be used to generate valid blocks. Instead, Proof-of-Stake validators will take up this function, assessing the authenticity of all transactions and proposing blocks.

Ninguna historia se perderá. Cuando se fusionen Mainnet y Beacon Chain, se combinará todo el historial transaccional de Ethereum.

Beneficios de Ethereum moviéndose a prueba de participación

Escalabilidad

 

Ethereum can only analyze a certain amount of information in a given length of time since each block is mined consecutively and there is a fixed amount of data that can be stored in each block (so, the block size is limited). If the number of outstanding transactions exceeds the capacity of a block, the remaining transactions must wait for the next block to be generated, and so on. The deployment of sharding on the PoS network will address this scalability issue.

The Ethereum blockchain will be divided into 64 distinct chains which are named shard chains. These chains will run in parallel to one another and will interact as a result of sharding. Sharding improves scalability by allowing Ethereum to handle many transactions at the same time: 64 blocks at a time, potentially.

Posteriormente, las empresas que acepten pagos con ETH recibirán sus monedas más rápido gracias a un mejor rendimiento de la red.

Accesibilidad

Miners have played a critical role in the construction and maintenance of the Proof-of-Work version of the Ethereum blockchain. Yet, in order to become a miner, Individuals must acquire and install expensive hardware such as graphics cards. To make significant returns from block rewards, people will almost certainly need to live in a place with reduced power expenses.

Moreover, decreased power prices are usually offered to companies and corporations, implying that a miner seeking higher returns would also need to set up an enterprise and acquire sufficient mining hardware to rationalize their efforts. Several of the largest mining corporations outcompete the bulk of normal blockchain users in terms of network maintenance, resulting in centralization, the very thing every blockchain tries to avoid. 

Ethereum 2.0 seeks to make participating in the network more accessible for ordinary users. PoS will involve staking, so there will not be any need for purchasing expensive equipment. Users will simply have to lock their ETH coins in a smart contract to benefit from the blockchain.

Por lo tanto, las empresas que acepten ETH tendrán la oportunidad de apostar sus monedas y obtener más ETH como resultado.

Sostenibilidad

 

The switch to Proof-of-Stake will also remove the need for energy-intensive mining. The PoW version of Ethereum requires a substantial volume of electricity. So, its current power consumption is comparable to that of Chile, while its carbon footprint is on the same level as Finland’s.

Básicamente, Ethereum consume demasiada energía, lo que no es sostenible y debería arreglarse. 

A Proof-of-Stake mechanism is a perfect solution for addressing the power-consumption problem. Since PoS networks rely on validators staking their tokens, there is no demand for mining equipment. According to recent estimates, Ethereum 2.0 will consume around 2.62 megawatts of electricity which is similar to the power volume required by a small town with a couple of thousand homes. Given that Ethereum is a massive ecosystem of thousands of apps, this is quite an impressive result.

Las empresas podrán utilizar ETH como método de pago sostenible.

Seguridad

Ethereum 2.0 is also much more secure than the previous version of the network. A Proof-of-Work mechanism is a rather centralized system since it is run by a small group of miners, which subsequently reduces network security. Ethereum 2.0 will have at least 16k validators to make the network run, which turns the network into a much more decentralized system. Basically, validators put their coins into smart contracts which is called staking. Therefore, the more coins these people stake the more they have to lose, which reinforces the security of the network making it safer for everyone.

¿Las pasarelas de pago son compatibles con Ethereum 2.0?

Many crypto gateways announced their support of Ethereum PoS. For instance, NOWPayments began supporting Ethereum 2.0 as soon as the Merge happened. The clients do not face any difficulty using the new version of the network. Moreover, if a hard fork happens and some Ethereum users decide to keep the old PoW version network running, there also will be an option to accept ETHW payments. 

Preguntas Frecuentes

¿ETH 2 es una moneda nueva?

No se creará ninguna moneda nueva como resultado de Ethereum 2.0, por lo que puede continuar usando la misma moneda ETH después de la fusión.

¿El gas será más barato después de la fusión?

La posición oficial de la Fundación Ethereum con respecto a las tarifas de red en Ethereum 2.0 establece que no habrá cambios significativos en el tamaño de las tarifas.

¿Cómo me afectará la Fusión?

La fusión no afectará a los usuarios, incluidos los socios de NOWPayments, de manera considerable, por lo que no necesitará cambiar nada ni realizar ajustes una vez que Ethereum 2.0 esté aquí.

¿Qué es la "fragmentación de Ethereum"?

Ethereum Sharding es un enfoque innovador para aumentar la eficiencia de la red que implica dividir la cadena de bloques en cadenas más pequeñas.

¿Qué sucede con Ethereum cuando sale 2.0?

Después de la fusión, Ethereum se convirtió en una red más segura, escalable y sostenible.