On Thursday, developers activated a large-scale update in the Ethereum blockchain, which has now switched to the Proof-of-Stake algorithm (proof of ownership share, PoS). The successful migration was announced by the founder of the blockchain, Vitalik Buterin, who called this operation a significant moment for Ethereum.

For almost ten years since its inception, Ethereum has been mined using a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus model, which involves solving complex mathematical equations, which require a lot of energy. Bitcoin mining follows a similar model. But if you want to make some money for yourself you don’t need any mining skills, just visit our friends – Bitcoin 360 Ai

Ethereum is moving to a Proof-of-Stake algorithm, which does not require a lot of computing power because the validator’s capabilities now depend on the number of coins he has.

To become a validator, Ethereum users must pledge 32 ETH, after which they will be randomly selected to create new blocks and verify and validate blocks that others create.

Ethereum developers predict that thanks to the blockchain’s rejection of the energy-intensive PoW algorithm, global electricity consumption will decrease by 0.2%.

Also, PoS is expected to speed up transactions against PoW.

The move to PoS was dubbed The Merge, as the main Ethereum blockchain merged with its sister network Beacon Chain, which was launched two years ago. This PoS blockchain has been running parallel to Ethereum since December 2020, but no economic activity has taken place in it.

The price of Bitcoin has fallen sharply, and Ethereum has also lost its price

The quotation of the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell below $18,500. Over the last day, the asset has fallen in price by 7.8%, according to data from CoinGecko.

According to CoinMarketCap, over the past week, the value of the cryptocurrency has fallen by more than 16%. As of 1:00 p.m., bitcoin is trading at $18.47 thousand. You can visit this website to find out the charts.

The second most expensive crypto-asset, Ethereum, fell by 25% for the week and fell below the $1,300 mark.

In addition to bitcoin and ether, the most “asked” was Cardano, which lost 10.8%; XRP Ripple – 10%, Solana – 8%, and BNB – 6.6%.

The main event of the week, which puts pressure on the first cryptocurrency, is the Fed meeting on September 21. According to the futures market, the probability of an increase in the key rate is immediately by 75 bps. is 80%.