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The Problems That Ethereum 2.0 Proof-of-Stake Aims to Solve
What does it mean for the network, building on it, and crypto mining?
The Bitcoin and Monero (XMR) communities remain some of the most committed to the concept of proof-of-work.
Ethereum’s Long-Awaited Upgrade
It feels like it has been coming for ages. That’s because it has. It has been in the works for years and discussed since 2018. Ethereum 1.0 had concerns over scalability and security. These are set to be improved with the planned upgrades to the system.
This massive upgrade involves re-engineering the entire Ethereum platform, which will result in the launch of this new, more scalable version. This implementation of the Ethereum network was due to start in the summer of 2020 and it is currently in progress.
All phases need to be complete, which will likely see the upgrade run for another couple of years.
- Phase 0 — The Beacon Chain — Expected: 2020
- Phase 1 — The Shard Chains — Expected: 2021
- Phase 1.5 — Mainnet Becomes a Shard — Expected: 2021
- Phase 2 — Fully Formed Shards — Expected: 2021+
A change surrounded in controversy, as part of the Ethereum 2.0 implementation, it will go from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus.
Going from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS)
Ethereum (1.0) is currently proof-of-work, much like Bitcoin.
However, the Ethereum network, with version 2.0, is changing its consensus algorithm. Put simply, this means it is changing the way peers reach a common agreement about the present state of the distributed ledger.
This will affect the way ETH is mined and how ETH is rewarded to miners for validating transactions on the network. It changes the methods used by miners and the requirements…
