The Ethereum Merge has happened already. The Merge has some implications for Ethereum.  It has the potential to also catapult the price of ether or ETH to unprecedented heights. There are some other benefits expected of the event.

Top Benefits of The Ethereum Merge

There are drawbacks to Ethereum that the Merge is expected to fix. The event means that the lack of scalability which used to be the roadblock to Ethereum’s greater adoption is no longer an issue. Here are some other top benefits of the Ethereum Merge crypto followers should expect.

Read more: What Is the Ethereum Merge?

1.  More users are allowed to participate in the network

Many Ethereum network participants will benefit from the Merge because many of them will now be able to earn rewards for participating and securing the network. The transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) from proof-of-work (PoW) ensures that miners will no longer validate transactions on the network.

What this means is that transactions will be processed through staking. Ethereum users can “stake” or commit a fraction of their Ethereum holding towards securing the network and validating transactions to receive a share of transaction fees. Staking is more accessible to the everyday Ethereum user. This is unlike mining which requires a considerable deal of effort and upfront investment to engage in.

However, there exist some roadblocks to entry. Holders must invest a minimum of 32 Ethereum to maintain their nodes for validating transactions. This is cost-prohibitive to investors. Nevertheless, services such as Lido Finance and Coinbase now allow customers to hold less than 32 Ethereum. This is done by facilitating staking in a relatively automated and simple process so that customers can enjoy these benefits.

Users should be informed that they won't be able to trade some of their Ethereum for a long after staking some of it on Coinbase. However, long-term holders shouldn't have any problems with this.

Read more: Proof-of-Stake explained

2.  The Merge makes sharding possible

Even with the Ethereum Merge going live, Ethereum is still a blockchain under development. Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin still views Ethereum as being 55% complete. Two things need to take place before Ethereum can reach its full potential – lowering transaction fees and increase in transaction speed.

The Merge will not directly solve this but is still a necessary step toward the solution. The Merge will lay the groundwork for Ethereum to eventually expand its capacity and become faster and less expensive. To accomplish this, the process known as sharding will be introduced.

With sharding, the Ethereum blockchain will be divided into smaller, more manageable blockchains. Validators will be more effective because they will be able to concentrate their efforts solely on transactions that take place within their shard. Sharding will also lower the barrier associated with being a validator.

3.  Ethereum is now more eco-friendly

Ethereum becoming more environmentally friendly has been one of the most publicized benefits of the Merge.

When the Ethereum blockchain operated on a PoW consensus mechanism, massive computational power was required to solve complex math problems just to validate new transactions on the blockchain. It was cited as being energy-intensive, expensive, and slow.

According to the official website of Ethereum, the Merge which involved a transition from PoW to PoS consensus mechanism ensures that there will be a 99.95% reduction in energy consumption. This means that expensive and high-powered computers will no longer be needed to run Ethereum’s network.

Conclusion

The Ethereum blockchain, the biggest after bitcoin has undergone a major upgrade. The Merge as it is known will make Ethereum more energy efficient, make sharding possible, and allow more users to participate in the network. As a result, users should expect improvements and more benefits in the months and years to come.