In the Financial Times, Edward Machin Examines Ethereum Blockchain “The Merge”

In the Financial Times, data, privacy & cybersecurity associate Edward Machin commented on “The Merge,” a term that involves an upgrade for Ethereum, one of the cryptocurrency industry’s leading digital ledger blockchain networks from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake blockchain. This means that Ethereum would no longer be secured by energy-intensive mining, but by individuals and companies called validators dedicating their own capital on the network itself.

The Ethereum blockchain holds over 50 percent of the total value of the decentralized finance industry, which backs direct peer-to-peer transactions and is meant to remove the need for third-party intermediaries such as banks and brokers.

Edward explains that the “Merge” protocol is almost like changing the engines on a plane while flying—a significant engineering feat. He notes that Ethereum is a beacon of decentralization, but in a new model of proof-of-stake it will be more centralized than people assume with safeguards by a collection of individuals and companies to validate each new block of transactions added to the chain by staking their own ether tokens as collateral against bad behavior.