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Why crypto's big 'merge' is causing big headaches
The biggest software upgrade in the short history of crypto has fulfilled its promise to wipe out more than 99 percent of the electricity used by the second-biggest cryptocurrency.
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In this photo illustration created in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2022, the Ethereum logo on a physical imitation of an Ethereum cryptocurrency is reflected on a phone screen. (AFP/Stefani Reynolds)
T
he biggest software upgrade in the short history of crypto has fulfilled its promise to wipe out more than 99 percent of the electricity used by the second-biggest cryptocurrency, experts have told AFP.
That is no mean feat, given that the Ethereum blockchain was burning through about as much electricity as New Zealand.
Sceptics had expected glitches with the upgrade, known as "the merge", but it ended up being a "rather boring event", according to Alex de Vries of the Free University in Amsterdam.
De Vries, whose Digiconomist website models the energy use of Bitcoin and Ethereum, said consumption had indeed plummeted by more than 99 percent on Ethereum.
Moritz Platt, a researcher specialising in crypto at King's College London, said the 99 percent estimates were realistic and heralded a positive step towards "cryptocurrency sustainability".
So the Ethereum blockchain, which supports billions of dollars of trading in games, tokens, art and the ether currency, has cleaned up its act.
But there are complications.
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