On Wednesday, August 17, 2022, the Ethereum Foundation issued a new clarification regarding the highly-awaited ‘The Merge.’ According to which, ‘the Merge’ will not reduce Ethereum’s gas fees. The Ethereum foundation published a statement, stating that gas fees are a product of network demand in relation to the network’s capacity.
Further clarifying that ‘the Merge’ discontinues the use of proof-of-work by making the transition to proof-of-stake consensus. However, it doesn’t make any changes to parameters that directly affect the network capacity or throughput.
What Will it Change?
The Merge will remove the need for energy-intensive mining. To the unfamiliar, the upgrade aims to join the existing execution layer of the Ethereum mainnet with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. The upgrade is scheduled to launch in the final or third quarter of 2022. Though several investors and traders have purchased Ether awaiting the Merge upgrade, some seem to be in illusion that the capacity of the network will increase after the upgrade is live.
To begin with, with zero Ether staking requirements, everyone has the liberty to sync their own Ethereum’s self-verified copy or for running a node. It is impossible to withdraw staked Ether till the Shanghai upgrade rolls out. Fee tips, the reward of the Liquid ETH rewards, however, will be accessible immediately. Once live, validator withdrawals will be rate-limited in order to avoid a potential liquidity crisis.
It is also important to note that the transactions will also be not significantly faster than the Merge. But after the Merge, the APR yields on the network are expected to rise by 50% in comparison to now for luring funds. As per the latest update, the client developers are working towards finishing the Merge before the deadline September 19, 2022, which during transition is programmed for zero transition.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/08/19/the-merge-to-not-reduce-ethereums-gas-fees-ethereum-foundation/