With a huge sigh of relief, Ethereum supporters have declared the success of the MERGE. Ethereum has moved away from Proof of Work (POW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), thus improving the entire ecosystem. While reducing electricity usage, improving speed, and boosting scalability, the Merge makes Ethereum more acceptable for traditional financial services firms.
CI received a comment from ING, the global bank based in the Netherlands, reflecting the Merge. ING has been experimenting in the blockchain sector working to “empower our customers to transition to a distributed economy.” ING’s Head Economist for Digital Finance and Regulation, Teunis Brosens, shared:
“Ethereum’s migration from PoW to PoS may be the biggest event in cryptoland this year. The migration itself and its aftermath carry risks, and will be closely watched within the crypto community. A successful migration will be a compliment to the Ethereum community’s ability to manage big events. It will also remove an important obstacle to acceptability of Ethereum to regulators and hence development of Ethereum-based services by traditional financial institutions.”
Regulated firms demand efficiency as institutions must be able to scale services on the blockchain and the Merge has removed a substantial hurdle.
Brosens added that this development will be bad for Bitcoin and the community will be on the defensive in terms of the adoption by traditional finance.
“The Bitcoin community is conservative, and we don’t see Bitcoin transitioning from PoW to PoS anytime soon.”