Ethereum drops 99.98%.....of energy use💚

Hola Amigos!

Welcome to Switch Daily!🤗

Badhaee ho, you made it! We’ve officially landed on the Proof of Stake era 🎉. Many things have gone wrong in crypto this year, but the Merge wasn’t one of them. Hats off to its BUIDLers and their Captain — Vitalik.

Let’s dig into today’s stuff:

• Market pulse

• A successful Merge

• Creator's Spotlight

• Fresh news

• Crypto Comic

Market pulse 📈

The market retracted like a snail into its shell 🐚

It looks like the merge failed to cheer up the investors. BTC and ETH are trading below their psychologically important levels at $20K and $1,500, respectively. The sell-off was primarily driven by the weakness in the global market, with Nasdaq 100 falling by 1.43%.

The total crypto market cap is at the $960 billion mark. Due to overall weak investors' sentiment, the merge-related development is not reflected in the price yet. We may witness a new sell-off wave if it breaks below the $1,430 level in today’s session. As always, DYOR.

The Merge was successful 🏅🎉

It’s another Friday, and we’re usually back with another special edition. But what can be more special and exciting than the historical event we witnessed yesterday?

The day was 15th Sep and the time was 12.29 p.m

The difficulty rate was 58,750,000,000T.

And this happened.

There is so much hype around the merge that its hard to remember what it is in the first place, so let’s jog our memory a little. 

What is the Merge?

It is an upgrade that moved the Ethereum network from

⚒️Proof of Work model, a.k.a POW, where miners run heavy computing power to verify transactions for rewards.

To

🔐Proof of Stake model, a.k.a POS where validators stake their own crypto to verify transactions and earn more crypto.

Think of POW as a tube light that consumes more energy and POS as its sustainable alternative Led light that consumes less energy but shines bright.

What did the Merge achieve?

🐼Ethereum began as a Proof of Work network and, in 13 minutes, shifted gears to become a Proof of Stake network.

🐼The network will now run on 99.98% lesser energy than it did pre-merge. Vitalik even tweeted that the merge could reduce global electricity consumption by 0.02%. Doesn’t sound like a lot, right? But on a global scale, it makes a huge difference.

🐼Ethereum miners stood strong — the network expected to lose about 10-15% validators, but only 4% left the fort.

🐼A handful of miners joined hands with a plan to fork Ethereum and introduce a new token, ETHPoW.

🐼Somebody even shelled out 36 ETH (~₹48 lakhs) to mint the first ever NFT on the POS Ethereum network. This👇🏽 is what it looks like. The things people do to be first in line 😮‍💨.

Okay, fine, the merge will now use a lot less electricity, but,

Why does it matter?

Well, there are many reasons.

💥More inclusive: Earlier, if you wanted to mine Ethereum, you needed to be huge on cash. It took heavy capital even to join a mining pool. After the move to POS, 14 ETH is all it takes to make you a validator on the network. 

💥More secure: The Merge has brought decentralization closer. How? With the staking model, more common folks like you and me can become a validator, which means the block will be distributed among more people reducing centralized control. More decentralization = better security.

💥Deflationary: With POW, miners are rewarded ~13,000 Ethereum per day. But POS, that number will be reduced by 90%. That means there will be a reduction in Ethereum’s supply, reducing inflation.

💥Wider adoption: Better sustainability could lead to more folks choosing the Ethereum chain to build their projects, leading to wider adoption.

How does it impact us (retail investors)?

Mostly nothing. Yet.

But in the long run, its sustainability could lead to better adoption.

Better adoption means higher value. There's even talks of Ethereum flipping Bitcoin to become the largest crypto someday. May come true; you never know. 🤷🏽

Here’s something we know — while we are busy celebrating the merge, some fake accounts are posing as Vitalk on social media and offering free ETH like they are festive sweets. Our chief editor checked, and there is NO FREE ETH for anyone, not even Vitalik.

So, be calm and stay safe! ✌️

Creator's Spotlight🔦

Still blurry about the merge? Here’s a quick explainer by our expert Arunima Rao.

What else is happening? 🤨

🐶DOGE needed to buy Tesla Cyberwhistle

Tesla has released a new Cyberwhistle that can only be purchased with CEO Elon Musk’s pet memecoin DOGE. As part of promotions, Musk also put out a tweet urging people to buy the product and “blow the whistle!” Read more.

🏛️Wall Street firms to launch crypto exchange

A group of Wall Street firms has announced the start of a new cryptocurrency exchange called EDX Markets (EDXM). The Wall Street venture could significantly boost the crypto ecosystem and pave the way to a bright future for digital assets. Read more.

⚒️Experts respond to Norwegian town calling PoW noisy

While the crypto world celebrates Ethereum’s move to POS, experts are beginning to weigh in on a Norwegian municipality protesting against the noise from Bitcoin mining. Read more. 

🍰KKR offers a bite of its PE fund on Avalanche

US investment major KKR’s latest health-care-specific private equity fund is now tokenized on the Avalanche blockchain. The development marks an era-defining association between real-world assets and blockchain technology. Read more. 

Twitter Gyan:

The Crypto Comic

Well, that's a wrap for today!

Have a good weekend. See you Monday! 👋🏽