<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The total terminal difficulty — </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">a measure of the cumulative mining difficulty on the Ethereum network</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> — was achieved at block </span><a href="https://bordel.wtf/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">15537393</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> at 6:42:42 am UTC today, <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/169299/ethereum-activates-the-merge-as-it-shifts-to-proof-of-stake">triggering the transition</a> to proof of stake. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Within just 17 seconds, the first NFT was minted on proof-of-stake Ethereum in the <a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5ad934ee3bf2f8938d8518a3b978e81f178eaa21824ee52fef83338f786e7b59">next block</a>. The user paid over </span><a href="https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5ad934ee3bf2f8938d8518a3b978e81f178eaa21824ee52fef83338f786e7b59"><span style="font-weight: 400;">36.8 ETH</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in transaction fees ($60,626.26) to mint the NFT named “The Transition.” It features an Ethereum panda mascot and is part of a collection of 100 on NFT marketplace </span><a href="https://opensea.io/collection/thetransition"><span style="font-weight: 400;">OpenSea</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The NFT also shows key details related to Ethereum, including the difficulty level at the time and a timestamp. </span></p> <p><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-170279" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2022/09/the-transition-800x442.png" alt="The Transition" width="800" height="442" /></p> <p>A user — who has just set up a new <a href="https://twitter.com/0xTransition">Twitter account</a> and <a href="https://thetransition.wtf/">website</a> — known as The Transition has claimed they created it. The NFTs are being auctioned on the website.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The collection now takes its place in Ethereum history, but it’s not the first time the panda mascot has appeared as an NFT, with </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MagMasterNFT/status/1570309571394281472?s=20&amp;t=d_XCUm0vA01KUbb_NWAQfQ"><span style="font-weight: 400;">PandETH</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> minted back in early 2019.</span></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">For the latest news and updates about The Merge, make sure to check out our </span></i><a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/169846/the-merge-live-coverage-of-ethereums-major-upgrade"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">live coverage</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></i></p><br /><span class="copyright"><p>© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.</p> </span>