Ethereum’s long-awaited migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which has been pushed back time and time again, looks set to occur sometime in August — hopefully. Preston Van Loon, a core developer of the Ethereum network, told attendees at the Permissionless conference that the transition, known as The Merge, would occur sometime in August if everything plays out according to plan. Ethereum core Dev @preston_vanloon just said the eth merge is ready,they are now only testing, and expects the merge to happen in August. Packed room @Permissionless are excited about it. Great question @TrustlessState. Also on panel @drakefjustin pic.twitter.com/vX4beNatJ5 …

The Ethereum ecosystem is set for a “huge testing milestone,” with the Ropsten testnet Merge set to be conducted on June 8. According to the Merge testnets page on GitHub, Ethereum DevOps engineer Parathi Jayanathi submitted a pull request for the Ropsten testnet Merge configuration code on Monday, suggesting the implementation is ready to go. Ropsten is one of several testnets created by the Ethereum Foundation in 2017 and is currently maintained by the Geth developer team. This specific testnet is seen as the best replication of the Ethereum Mainnet as it follows a similar network structure. This enables developers …

Ahead of Ethereum’s highly anticipated switch to proof-of-stake (PoS), cybersecurity firm Cloudflare is set to launch and fully stake Ethereum validator nodes over the next few months. It aims to study energy efficiency, consistency management and network speed of the PoS network as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and to help “build a better internet.” Cloudflare was founded in 2010 and provides web security services such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation to protect clients from DDoS attacks. Cloudflare said it was experimenting with the “next generation of Web3 networks that are embracing proof of stake,” with Ethereum being …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, has criticized the efficiency of Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment network, only to meet heavy backlash from the crypto community. During an interview with the Financial Times, Bankman-Fried fueled environmental concerns associated with the Bitcoin network’s mining consensus proof-of-work (PoW) and claimed it's not scalable enough to accommodate millions of transactions. He advocated for the use of proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus instead and claimed it is better suited for blockchain payment networks. He said: “Things that you’re doing millions of transactions a second with have to be extremely efficient and lightweight and …

Bitcoin (BTC), the original cryptocurrency that started it all and even today continues to drive the market sentiments, has faced numerous challenges along the way. The latest challenge seems to be around its mining consensus, proof-of-work (PoW) and its consequent impact on the environment. Bitcoin network’s high energy consumption was one of the hottest topics last year, with the likes of Elon Musk fueling the sentiment that BTC in its current form is bad for the environment. Luckily enough, the mining companies for some time have been exploring the use of renewable energy, and the latest reports suggest that 58% …

On April 26, the State of New York put itself at the forefront of the regulatory struggle with crypto, as its Assembly voted for a two-year moratorium on crypto mining operations that use energy generated by fossil-fuel power plants. Depending on how one looks at it, this development could either signal a new alarming legislative trend or a trigger that would accelerate the digital asset industry’s movement toward a more sustainable path. Moratorium with further evaluation The lower chamber of the NY state legislature, the Assembly, passed a bill that would put a two-year hold on any new mining operations …

The deposit contract for staking Ethereum (ETH) on the Beacon Chain reached a balance of 12 million ETH on Friday. The total locked value of Ether in the Eth2 contract is worth about $34.5 billion. The deposit contract was launched in November 2020 and currently holds around 10% of the total circulating supply of ETH. The Beacon Chain is the first major step in Ethereum's transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model. A trader must invest a minimum of 32 ETH to become a validator in Eth2. Thus, the largest Beacon Chain contract, valued at $34.5 …

The New York State Assembly passed a bill late on Tuesday that would place a two-year ban on all new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining facilities in the state that use a carbon-based fuel to power their operations. The bill, sponsored by Anna Kelles, would not only impose a two-year hold on approval of any new Bitcoin mines, but the proposed moratorium would also prevent the renewal of permits issued to existing PoW cryptocurrency miners using carbon sourced energy if they seek to increase the amount of electricity consumed. Thrilled that my bill with Senate champion @kevinparkernyc A7389C/S6486D just passed in …

New York's legislature might ban proof-of-work (PoW) crypto mining in the state for at least two years, citing environmental concerns. Over the past weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, several crypto advocacy groups — including the Blockchain Association and Crypto Council for Innovation — rang the alarm over the upcoming vote in the New York Assembly. The state Senate's official webpage did not indicate a specific date for the vote. 1/ New York’s proposed moratorium on proof-of-work (S6486D/A7389C) mining has an unintended consequence - it puts innovation on the back burner. It would have significant implications for the security of major …

United States House of Representatives member Jared Huffman and 22 other lawmakers have requested the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, assess crypto mining firms potentially violating environmental statutes. In a letter addressed to EPA administrator Michael Regan on Wednesday, Huffman said he and other Democratic House members had “serious concerns” around crypto firms in the United States reportedly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and not operating in accordance with either the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act. The lawmakers identified efforts to “re-open closed gas and coal facilities” as a means to produce energy for crypto mining operations …

Decred (DCR) prices soared by as much as 45% on April 18 before paring some gains as traders bet on a major hard fork that aims to prevent pump-and-dump schemes by miners. Key Decred network upgrade in three weeks DCR rallied by nearly 45% to over $86 in one day, its highest level in four months. Moreover, the massive upside move accompanied a similarly huge spike in its trading volumes, confirming that most traders backed the intraday bullish momentum. Traders flocked to buying Decred ahead of a key upgrade slated for early May that would reduce the DCR mining reward …

The company behind the Firefox internet browser Mozilla is attempting to appease its environmentally-conscious community by accepting only Proof-of-Stake (PoS) crypto donations. The company initially halted all crypto donations in January, but has now opened them back up after a review period to assess community sentiments and to conduct research on crypto energy usage. An update to our policy on accepting cryptocurrency donations. We got it wrong, we heard you, and we've evolved. https://t.co/0bSThVJsCC — Mozilla (@mozilla) April 7, 2022 PoS blockchains consume less than 1% as much electricity as Bitcoin, although they vary among themselves in efficiency as demonstrated …