The highly-awaited Ethereum upgrade dubbed ‘The Merge’ has kept crypto enthusiasts on the edge of their seat. Naturally, the most excited of all is Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. To the unfamiliar, the Merge is primarily the transition of the blockchain network from PoW to PoS. It aims to mitigate the harmful impact on the environment due to PoW. Another primary goal behind the upgrade is to reduce the gas fees.
Along with all the excitement, the upgrade has also gathered a fair amount of criticism with some even pushing for the continuation of “ETH PoW” after upgrade. But the movement doesn’t stress out Buterin even a bit. Buterin says these are just “a couple of outsiders” who own exchanges and look to make some quick profit. Therefore, there is no substantial long-term adoption, according to him. Especially, only because of the fact that Ethereum Classic has a superior community and product for pro- PoW individuals. Buterin says everyone whom he has conversed with, believes in transition to PoS. However, there are still going to be “a couple of splats” with Ethereum’s PoS.
Ethereum Miners Are Majorly Against ETH PoS
Ethereum miners are majorly driving the interest in ETH PoW. Because miners are at the losing end with the transition to PoS. Their income is at stake. Referring to the hard fork in 2016 that resulted in a separate chain called Ethereum Classic, the 28-year-old founder said he doesn’t think another fork can harm Ethereum
Buterin further said that in case the PoW becomes large, then several applications will have to make a choice. He said there is going to be lots of market confusion and problems if the POW receives substantial traction. Whatever happens, he says he does not wish for people to lose money amidst all of this.
The mining of Ether (ETH) proper isn’t going to continue on their forked proof-of-work chain after the merge. For anything they mine, the miners will have to create a new coin and also give it a name. Then hope for the people to adopt it. Buterin says Ether along with applications and projects will remain exclusive to Ethereum on its new proof-of-stake chain. Buterin is confident that everyone is going to support the proof-of-stake.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/08/06/ethereum-founder-vitalik-buterin-not-concerned-about-pro-pow-individuals/