The much-awaited Ethereum Merge, for those living under a virtual rock, is the forthcoming union of the Ethereum mainnet and the Beacon Chain. It is occurring. As of this writing, the Ethereum merge will occur in less than two days. Ethereum will then switch to a proof-of-stake (PoS) verification system, which is claimed to consume at least 99 percent less energy than blockchains utilizing a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus system. Thanks to Tezos, we have concrete examples of low-impact blockchains using a PoS paradigm in the real world. Thus, the potential is undeniable.

What may be one of the most meaningful events in the brief history of blockchain technology has set the Web3 community ablaze with enthusiasm. However, this overexcited a few people in the neighborhood. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common myths about the upcoming merger to help set realistic goals.

1. The merge won’t eliminate gas prices.

When Ethereum switched to the more efficient PoS model, some users thought that the efficiency benefits of the de facto NFT blockchain would lower or even get rid of the gas fees that each transaction on the network has to pay. But, sadly, it’s not the case. As they are now, gas fees will stay the same after the merger, at least on the leading Ethereum network. This is because several planned improvements for Ethereum will continue after the impending merge. Sharding implementation is one of the most significant updates that may be anticipated following the Ethereum merge.

According to the Ethereum website, “sharding” is “the act of partitioning a database horizontally to disperse the load.” It can be used with layer-two solutions to make the current Ethereum network bigger and handle more transactions per second. This can be done in a way that doesn’t hurt the web long term. This is because sharding gets rid of the need for a validator, or a computer acting as an Ethereum node, to physically keep the contents of the transaction it is currently confirming. In the long run, this makes it possible for machines with less power to serve as network validators, which helps the Ethereum network grow. So, network congestion on the Ethereum blockchain may be solved without building new crypto-mining farms that use energy. So, network congestion can be handled well on the Ethereum blockchain without building new crypto-mining farms that use energy.

How would sharding impact gas prices, then? Although it might lower gas costs for transactions made on layer-2 networks, the primary layer-1 Ethereum network is likely to stay more or less the same.

2. No, the merge won’t speed up transactions.

The merge won’t make Ethereum’s blockchain faster, even though PoS blockchains often operate more quickly than their PoW equivalents. On the Ethereum website, it says that users are “unlikely to notice” the small gains in block time and that the time it takes to make a block has increased by 10%. Due to the Ethereum team’s commitment to “zero downtime,” a planned change, you might not even notice it once it is up. Due to the Ethereum team’s commitment to “zero downtime,” a planned change, you might not even notice it once it is up.

The merge is instead concentrating on enhancing the security of Ethereum transactions. After the merge, Ethereum data blocks will be condensed into epochs that validators can vote on and authenticate within a predetermined window. When there is an agreement regarding a transaction’s integrity, it is designated for “finalization” in the following epoch. By using ages, transactions will now have a sense of “finality” about them.

Ethereum waited 5 years for the Merge and it didn’t improve the user experience at all.

Cardano has been around for 5 years and has drastically improved the user experience in all aspects! While everybody else is failing, Cardano is scaling!👑

— Lucid (@LucidCiC) November 7, 2022

3. Before a later time, you won’t be able to withdraw staked Ethereum.

After the merger, anyone who wants to help grow the Ethereum network will have to be in it for the long haul. Why? According to the Ethereum website, ETH will be locked up for the anticipated Shanghai update sometime in 2023. But the NGS doesn’t stop there. After he merges, all staking rewards and freshly created ETH will stay locked onto the Beacon chain. To become a validator on the Ethereum network after the merge, you must keep at least 32 ETH locked up. That currently amounts to almost $50,000. Following the merge, these funds will be inaccessible for six to twelve months, making it difficult for Ethereum “hodlers” to stake their currency until then. What benefits do Ethereum stakeholders receive up until the update, then? Tip fees. Stakers will continue to be instantly eligible for fee tips and miner extractable value (MEV) following the merge, even if some staking rewards will be delayed until the Shanghai upgrade. Gas taxes won’t be eliminated any time soon because of this.

Also, read Three common misunderstandings concerning the Ethereum Merge.

4. The merge does not immediately address blockchain’s environmental issues.

The critical term here is “immediately,” as another blockchain player, Bitcoin, still consumes more energy than tiny nations, despite Ethereum’s current energy consumption being reduced to zero. According to a recent White House estimate, 20 to 39 percent of the energy used by the blockchain industry globally is now consumed by Ethereum. Nevertheless, the most significant estimate for Bitcoin’s contribution to the energy consumption of the blockchain sector is 77 percent.

At the very least, the Ethereum Merge marks the beginning of the end of NFTs as an effect that could be bad for the environment. At the very least, the Ethereum Merge marks the beginning of the end of NFTs as a potentially dangerous effect on the environment. Even though Ethereum has cut its energy use by a lot, Bitcoin’s continued use as a PoW network will still have a big effect on the environment. We hope the merger will inspire other blockchain participants, especially Bitcoin, to use a similar strategy. After all, it’s the only way to take the internet to the next level and realize its full potential.