One of the most hotly anticipated events of this year in crypto is easily the Ethereum (ETH-USD) Merge upgrade. The overhaul will bring massive change to the world’s largest network of decentralized apps (dapps) and likely precede huge gains for the ETH coin. Now, investors are one step closer to the upgrade. Ethereum news this week is seeing developers roll out the last public test network ahead of the long-awaited Merge.
Specifically, Ethereum rolled out Kiln, the network’s newest test network launch. Kiln is expected to be the last test network for the Ethereum Merge upgrade, which is slated for June 2022. The Kiln layer is an extension of the project’s last testnet, called Kintsugi. Dapp developers, node operators and other major players to the Ethereum network have been invited to use Kiln and report any issues; the purpose of these test networks is to help the Etheruem team find any errors ahead of the main launch.
Kiln is launching this week as a proof-of-work layer, meaning it utilizes the same energy-consumptive consensus mechanism as the Ethereum main network. However, later this week, Kiln will migrate to a proof-of-stake consensus, per developers.
How Does the ‘Kiln’ Ethereum News Benefit the Merge Upgrade?
This Ethereum news is big for anybody who uses Ethereum — and even for those who simply hold ETH. It signals that investors are coming ever closer to the biggest upgrade in the history of ETH and, in fact, maybe even the entire blockchain industry.
Coming this summer, The Merge is the upgrade which all recent test networks have been preparing for. Kiln is meant to be the last testing step ahead of Merge’s release. Essentially, the Merge will see the main network as all users know it combine with the Beacon chain, a blockchain running parallel to the main chain. The Beacon chain contains all of the changes users are preparing for.
Most notably, the Beacon chain contains the proof-of-stake consensus Ethereum wishes to adopt. Indeed, its current proof-of-work consensus is quite inefficient; many eco-conscious investors have criticized Ethereum and other proof-of-work networks as being bad for the environment. In fact, several European Union (EU) members attempted to have proof-of-work cryptos effectively banned for this very reason.
So, the Merge will see Ethereum shed much of this excessive energy consumption. Moreover, a transition to proof-of-stake with the Merge will vastly increase the number of transactions per second (tps) the network is capable of.
On the date of publication, Brenden Rearick did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
