Crypto Researcher Says Post Ethereums Merge Bitcoin Could Be Regulated Away
Categories: Bitcoin Crypto News
Crypto ResearcherSays Post Ethereum’s Merge, Bitcoin Could Be ‘Regulated Away’
Independent cryptoresearcher Kyle McDonald explained last Friday (September2) why Bitcoin could get even more attention from regulators — due to its highenergy consumption — after Ethereum’s Merge upgrade has been completed.Hereis how Ethereum Foundation explains the Merge, which marks the Ethereumnetwork’s transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (Pos)consensus:
“TheMerge represents the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (theMainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the BeaconChain.” Iteliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the networkusing staked ETH. A truly exciting step in realizing the Ethereumvision – more scalability, security, and sustainability.
It’simportant to remember that initially, the Beacon Chain shipped separately fromMainnet. Ethereum Mainnet – with all it’s accounts, balances,smart contracts, and blockchain state – continues to be secured byproof-of-work, even while the Beacon Chain runs in parallel usingproof-of-stake. The approaching Merge is when these two systems finally cometogether, and proof-of-work is replaced permanently by proof-of-stake.
“Let’sconsider an analogy. Imagine Ethereum is a spaceship that isn’t quite ready foran interstellar voyage. With the Beacon Chain, the community has built a newengine and a hardened hull. After significant testing, it’s almost time tohot-swap the new engine for the old mid-flight. This will merge the new, moreefficient engine into the existing ship, ready to put in some seriouslightyears and take on the universe.“
The reportsays that he told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” program that theclimate cris, Bitcoin mining’s huge energy consumption, and lackof any evidence that Bitcoin is highly unlikely to switch to the moreenvironment-friendly PoS consensus could put pressure on regulators to banBitcoin, and that in fact Bitcoin could become the firstcryptocurrency “to be regulated away” (at least in certainjurisdictions, such as the U.S. or the European Union).McDonald also mentionedthat he believes Ethereum Foundation’s claim about the Merge reducingEthereum’s energy consumption by 99.95%: