The cryptocurrency community is abuzz about what could prove to be a landmark event in the burgeoning digital currency world: a major upgrade — dubbed “the Merge”— of the ethereum blockchain. Crypto enthusiasts say the Merge, which went live Thursday, will greatly reduce the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining and more broadly enhance its utility as a way to conduct financial transactions, among other uses.
But what exactly is the Merge, and how could it change the future of crypto?
What is the Merge?
Ethereum, which was launched by Canadian computer programmer Vitalik Buterin in 2015, is a blockchain (or a digital ledger) used when cryptocurrency investors buy ether. It’s one of the world’s most used blockchains, second only to the bitcoin network. There are more than 71 million crypto wallets on the ethereum blockchain today, according to the Ethereum Foundation, a group of developers who now oversee the blockchain.
