Bursting The Myths Associated With The Ethereum Merge Upgrade

The upcoming Ethereum Merge is the hottest topic in the crypto community and the update is generating a huge buzz both positive and some negative viewpoints. Ethereum.org, the official website of Ethereum, has updated some misconception about the forthcoming upgrade on September 15. The Merge will not in any way lessen the gas fees nor make the transactions quicker or allow the withdrawal of the staked ETH.

All the positive aspects will happen only after the successful implementation of Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge phases and the Shanghai upgrade.

As the Ethereum Merge upgrade date nears, Ethereum is clearing the air of many misconceptions associated with Merge. Yes, it is a transformation from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) and an amalgamation of Ethereum Mainnet and Beacon Chain. It will reduce power usage by 99%. Also, users will not need to change the software but must be ware of the risks and myths.

Myth 1: Lessen Gas Fees

Ethereum Merge is a changeover from consensus mechanism to PoS but the network capacity will not increase or evolve into lower gas fees. Gas Fees depends on the Ethereum network demand. Yes in the Surge phase and enable sharding and rollups which will decrease gas fees.

Myth 2: Increase Transaction Speed

Not until the completion of all the phases of the Ethereum upgrade can the user expect speeds of 100,000 transactions per second. Until then the speed will be increased only by 10% on the PoS as compared to PoW.

Myth3: Ethereum Merge Will Enable Staked ETH Withdrawals

The Shanghai upgrade is going to happen only in the coming 6 to 12 months. Therefore, the Merge will not enable withdrawal of staked ETH (stETH). The users must be prepared for their funds remaining inactive during this period when their assets will remain locked and illiquid.  

Myth 4: No Liquid ETH Rewards For Validators After Ethereum Merge

On the contrary the validators will receive fee rewards and maximal extractable value (MEV) earned during block proposals on the Ethereum Mainnet. However, on the Beacon Chain the newly issued ETH will be locked until the Shanghai upgrade.

Myth 5: After Withdrawals Stakers Will Leave

Stakers will have an option of withdrawing staked ETH or stake more using rewards after the Shanghai Upgrade. However the volume of exits will be controlled and only 6 validators to exit per epoch or 6.4 minutes

Myth 6: Staking APR Will Surge 200% After the Ethereum Merge

APR can only increase by only 50% and not 200% as commonly believed and also higher fees paid by the users will reflect in the validators’ fee rewards.

Myth 7: 32 ETH Staked For Running A Node

The changeover of mining nodes from proof-of-work (PoW) and validator nodes under proof-of-stake (PoS) will require gargantuan amounts of resources to process a block. The truth is   a computer with 1-2 TB of available storage and an internet connection is all that is required for a non-block-producing node and not 32 ETH.

Myth 8: Ethereum Merge Will Precipitate Interruption of Ethereum Blockchain

The Merge will be triggered by the terminal total difficulty (TTD) to transition the Ethereum to PoS automatically. There is no downtime.

Ethereum has seen positive growth as the date of the Merge date is nearing. However, Ethereum explains that it is just the first phase of a long and difficult journey with many unknown hurdles in the future. Vitalik Buterin has predicted that Ethereum values will rise six to eight months after the completion of the Mege. Experts also are predicting the same.