The Merge gave birth to Ethereum PoS, a complete transition from an energy-intensive proof-of-stake consensus mechanism to an environmentally friendly proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
The transition marks one of the most complex crypto projects in recent years. Although some analysts were skeptical about the success of The Merge, many were proved wrong when Vitalik tweeted about the success of the Merge and congratulated everyone involved.
After the Merge, crypto analysis has had a microscopic eye on the behavior of the new Ethereum network. One of the most notable anomalies is that only 2 addresses dominated the validation of nodes within the PoS ecosystem. The two addresses noticeably controlled 46% of the Ethereum PoS nodes, raising eyebrows among the crypto community.
The new Ethereum PoS – the role of nodes
The Merge has shifted the way things work on the Ethereum network. The transition to Ethereum PoS is a massive contribution to global environmental concerns. According to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the change could reduce global electricity consumption by 0.2%.
The transition to the staking mechanism gives significant importance to the nodes. The nodes in a PoS ecosystem are responsible for staking. The nodes stake the tokens in exchange for a chance to be selected to produce the next block of transactions.
According to the recent findings after The Merge, only two addresses control 46% of these Ethereum PoS nodes. The centralization of such responsibilities poses a concern about the Ethereum ecosystem’s goals for further decentralization after the Merge.
If the two addresses are compromised, the network could be at risk as, currently, the most dominant address has validated 188 blocks, representing 28.97% of the total validations on the platform. Similarly, the second most dominant address has validated 105 blocks, representing 16.18%.
Previously, the Ethereum Proof of Work ecosystem made it extremely challenging to distribute the control of the blockchain to all ETH holders due to the high energy consumption of the PoW consensus. The PoS ecosystem should ease the process and ensure further decentralization of the Ethereum platform over time.
Developments after the transition to Ethereum PoS
The Merge has elicited reactions across the crypto space, with many commending the change from an environmental point of view. The pressure grows for other Proof of Work ecosystems that notably record larger carbon footprints.
Bitcoin, for instance, is well known to have a large carbon footprint that may need to be addressed. The transition of Ethereum for PoW to Ethereum PoS has shown developers that it is possible to make blockchain more environmentally friendly moving forward and contribute positively to global environmental and energy concerns.
Conclusion
Life after the Merge is just a few hours old, and the perfect decentralization is yet to be achieved. However, Ethereum fans should give the network more time while monitoring it closely to ensure things are working as expected. Over time, the network’s balance is more likely to be achieved, waiving concerns about the current situation of Ethereum PoS.
