> which are statistically most likely to be Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Ethereum itself should be using proof of stake by the end of the year, hence also not contributing to burning the planet.
Ethereum itself should be using proof of stake by the end of the year, hence also not contributing to burning the planet.
https://trends.google.co.za/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&...
This has been just around the corner for a few years now…
It takes a lot of testing and validation to make certain that such a substantial change to a network of this scale, securing this much capital, goes off with zero downtime or issues.
That has been the case for years now. I genuinely thought it had already happened because last I heard of it the merge was supposed to happen mid-last year or something.
At this point this merge will occur when HL3 is released, that is, never.
Yes, it was originally thought that the merge would be simpler (way back when it was referred to as Casper), and then it was realized it wasn't. Since that time the core devs have been transparent about the timelines. They have not been perpetually saying it's around the corner, they've been providing detailed roadmaps that have taken until now to reach completion. I encourage you to post sources to the contrary or admit that you're simply repeating the common falsehood.
Multiple shadow forks of mainnet have been merged successfully and we are now moving into the primary testnets. The final steps are being taken and only something catastrophic will change the current trajectory.
The merge will be completed by the end of this year, regardless of what you choose to believe.
It's worth saying that you shouldn't consider running a validator unless you have the commitment and skill to maintain uptime and availability. This is a reward for skilled labor, not a "set it and forget it" revenue stream. It's your responsibility to ensure your client is up to date and operating correctly.
While that doesn't necessarily mean you're chained to doing frequent maintenance, it's also not something a casual user should be doing without knowing what they're doing. Fortunately this information is widely available for anyone willing to learn.
Work is being done on light clients which will bring us closer to the average consumer being able to contribute to network decentralization with a low effort contribution of hardware access, but today this is an operation where participants are responsible for high availability services with real financial stakes.