Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) will be far more scalable after the merge to a Proof-of-Stake network, according to the blockchain’s creator Vitalik Buterin.
What Happened: “Ethereum can go up to being 55% complete after the ‘merge.’ "We're getting close, which is really amazing," Buterin said at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris, reported by Fortune.
Buterin outlined the network’s roadmap post-merge which will be delivered over four stages dubbed the “surge, verge, purge, and splurge” by Ethereum’s developers. These network upgrades will aim to make the network more decentralized and secure.
"At the end of this roadmap, Ethereum will be a much more scalable system. By the end, Ethereum will be able to process 100,000 transactions per second," said Buterin.
See Also: HOW TO STAKE ETHEREUM
Why It Matters: In its current state, Ethereum processes transactions at a rate of 12 to 25 TPS with an average confirmation time of around six minutes.
This slow transaction speed, coupled with the network’s high gas fees, has drawn criticism from across the industry. It has also led to the emergence of newer Layer 1 blockchains, with faster transaction speeds that have attempted to take market share from Ethereum.
Layer 2 blockchain scaling solutions, which help scale Ethereum, have also made a big impact in the cryptocurrency space as a result of the congestion prevalent on Ethereum.
Benzinga’s Take: If Ethereum successfully transitions to Proof-of-Stake with significantly higher transaction speeds, the future prospects for competing Layer 1 blockchains and Layer 2 scaling solutions could be uncertain.
Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, at press time ETH was trading at $1,569, up 2.2% over 24 hours. The leading digital asset Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading at $23,000, down 1% over the same period.
© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.