BERN: A major software upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain aimed at drastically reducing its energy usage has been completed, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum inventor and co-founder tweeted today.
The upgrade, known as the “merge”, will change how transactions on the Ethereum blockchain occur and how ether tokens, the second largest crypto coin after bitcoin, are created.
Under the change, Ethereum will move from a “proof of work” system, in which energy-hungry computers validate transactions by solving complex maths problems, to a “proof of stake” system, where individuals and companies act as validators, using their ether as collateral, to win newly created tokens.