Understanding Ethereum's Merge: Challenges and Solutions

Tim Beiko, the Ethereum Foundation coordinator for core developers, discusses his recent estimation that Ethereum’s merge, where the network transitions from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, will be delayed until the second half of 2022. Show topics:

• what the Ethereum merge is 
• why an upcoming difficulty bomb could force developers to delay the merge
• what shadow forks are and how they affect the decision to go forward with the merge
• how network difficulty is used in Ethereum to keep a balance between the blockchain and miners
• Tim’s (purposefully vague) timeline for the merge
• how the merge could increase Ethereum’s throughput by 9% – and thus potentially reduce gas fees slightly
• how the Ethereum Foundation plans to address gas fees and scaling issues post-merge

Announcing The Cryptopians Book Clubs!

On April 26th, I will be selling NFT tickets to five 90-minute virtual book clubs in which 22 people can discuss "The Cryptopians" with me and with each other — without worrying about spoilers! Two of the book clubs will also feature special guests. 

The sale will go live on Tuesday, April 26, at 1pm ET/10am PT,  and tickets will be $100 each. (The sale will be on Bitski, but the NFTs will not be visible until the sale goes live on the 26th): https://www.bitski.com/@laurashin/created

Here is the schedule: 

• Monday May 2, at 8pm ET/5pm PT with Laura Shin
• Tuesday, May 3, at a time TBD with guests Christoph Jentzsch, Lefteris Karapetsas, and Griff Green 
• Thursday, May 5, at 6pm CET/12pm ET/9am PT with Laura Shin
• Monday, May 9, at 6pm CET/12pm ET/9am PT with guest Andrey Ternovskiy
• Tuesday, May 10, at 9pm CET/3pm ET/12pm PT with Laura Shin

If you'd like to participate, be sure to mark your calendars for the sale time on April 26th. Hope to see you in one of the book clubs!

Thank you to our sponsors!

Crypto.com: https://crypto.onelink.me/J9Lg/unconfirmedcardearnfeb2021    

Coinchange: https://coinchange.io   

OnJuno: https://onjuno.com/ 

Galaxis: https://galaxis.xyz/

Episode Links

Tim Beiko

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimBeiko 

Related Content

• Tim’s post on the merge FAQs:
• • https://github.com/timbeiko/eth-roadmap-faq#merge-timelines
• Tim’s tweets from this week:
• • https://twitter.com/TimBeiko/status/1514423985517203458 
  • https://twitter.com/TimBeiko/status/1514010098145759232
• Previous Unchained appearance discussing the merge and EIP 1559:
• • https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereums-eip-1559-will-solve-some-problems-but-big-ones-will-remain/ 
• Shadow fork threads
• • https://twitter.com/parithosh_j/status/1513129893235769346?s=20&t=w63Iw2RPkldNMnRS4PJdjA
  • https://twitter.com/vdWijden/status/1513540976438091779 
• Unchained episode about how Ethereum 2.0 will work:
• • https://unchainedpodcast.com/ethereum-2-0-what-you-need-to-know/ 

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