Ethereum: The Merge is near with the launch of Sepolia Testnet

The Merge, one of the most anticipated events for Ethereum since its inception, is getting closer and closer. The Ethereum network team reported that the leading smart contract blockchain has completed its Sepolia testnet and is getting closer and closer to transitioning from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).

The Merge Sepolia Testnet

Seoplia is the second public testnet of The Merge of ETH after a successful deployment by Ropsten.

The Merge is still scheduled to launch on the Goerli testnet, before finally heading to the ETH mainnet. However, the date of activation of The Merge on the mainnet is not yet set. And now, after Seoplia, developers eagerly await the release of Goerli.

With the launch of Goerli, all testnets for The Merge will be up and ready for the event. Once the mainnet is launched, ETH will no longer rely on miners. Instead, the ETH network will use validators who have staked ETH to gain consensus.

Running a standalone node requires locking in 32 ETH worth around $35,000 at current prices. However, staking projects like Lido and RocketPool allow staking with smaller amounts.

They do this by “pooling” each user’s ETH into a pool and dividing the rewards according to allocation percentage.

As said, The Merge is a highly anticipated event for the Ethereum. That’s because the switch to PoS is expected to reduce ETH emissions and improve grid energy efficiency by over 99%.

In addition, the event will also set the stage for the addition of fragmented chains. this is the next phase of Ethereum’s scaling ambitions. Along with The Merge, widespread adoption of Layer 2 solutions is also expected, with ZK-Rollups.

ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been discussing the benefits of Proof-of-Stake since 2014. But he miscalculated the likely blockchain release date for the upgrade by several years.

Although The Merge has suffered from several delays, the launch of Sepolia brings the network closer to the expected date of deployment. However, The Merge did little to stop ETH’s regrettable 2022 price action.

Since hitting $4,800 in November 2021, ETH has lost 76.7% of its value.