The Merge and other major crypto stories to look out for this week

This coming week is all about The Merge, which will complete Ethereum’s transition from proof of work to proof of stake. A miner-led Ethereum fork may also go live once The Merge happens. Trading on the native token of this forked Ethereum chain may take place across a few crypto exchanges.

The Merge

Ethereum’s pivot from proof of work to proof of stake, the heralded event known as The Merge, will take center stage. The network already passed the last mile marker before The Merge, called the Bellatrix upgrade. The Merge itself will likely happen on Sept. 15 and node runners will be making final preparations to update their clients in anticipation of the network transition.

The Merge will bring notable changes to Ethereum, including a reduction in both the network’s energy usage and new token issuance. Validators will replace miners in the work. As such, Ethereum will no longer be secured by mining hardware, but by the economic value of ether tokens staked by participants. The Merge will not, however, make Ethereum more scalable or offer a reduction in transaction fees.

The Fork

Not all Ethereum network participants are in favor of The Merge. Some miners previously announced plans for a fork, a network split, with their own chain retaining Ethereum’s proof-of-work consensus.

Some crypto exchanges have already said they will recognize ETHPoW, the name adopted by the potential miner-led fork chain. If the chain split does occur, then trading on this ETHPoW token is likely to happen. Still, notable Ethereum personalities, including its co-creator Vitalik Buterin have said the fork is unlikely to succeed.  

More meetups and conferences

Buterin made a surprise appearance at the Kyiv Tech Summit last week, and there are several other crypto and blockchain events set to happen this coming week. Dubai’s second-ever MetaWeek starts today and will run until Wednesday. The event will showcase major developments in the emerging metaverse concept.

Other meetups and conferences include the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the NFT Show Europe in Valencia, Spain, on Saturday and Sunday. The latter has been called Europe’s largest crypto art event and will showcase works from various blockchain artists. The Berlin Blockchain Week kicks off on Monday and will run throughout the week.