3 Facts About Ethereum That You Should Know
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Loading... - Alban Dupont
- 05 Oct 2022
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While the crypto market is still plunging, right now could be one of the most affordable times to invest.
Crypto prices are down significantly this year, which means now is the time to invest at a discount. The price of Ethereum (ETH 0.17%) is down more than 72% from its peak in late 2021. But there are a few things to know before you invest.
1. The Merge will make Ethereum far more energy efficient
Ethereum completed its latest update, The Merge, in mid-September. This update moved the network from the energy-intensive proof of work (PoW) mining protocol to the more efficient proof of stake (PoS).
Moving from PoW to PoS will change how transactions are verified. Also, under a PoS protocol, Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy. This is a huge win for the blockchain, since one of critics' primary complaints about crypto is its energy usage.
2. Ethereum still struggles with transaction times and gas fees
Unfortunately, The Merge will not solve two of Ethereum's more pressing problems: slow transaction times and high fees.
Right now, Ethereum can only process around 14 transactions per second (TPS). That's dismal compared to Cardano's approximately 250 TPS and Solana's reported 65,000 TPS. Slow transaction times result in more network congestion, which also drives up gas fees for users -- and makes it more difficult for Ethereum to scale up.
The good news is that Ethereum developers are working on another update that will address these issues. However, that update isn't expected to happen until at least 2023 or 2024, assuming there are no delays along the way. Read More...
