Ethereum completes long-awaited energy-saving 'Merge' upgrade

Ethereum has completed a key revamp of its network, marking the crypto world’s most-ambitious software upgrade to date and paving the way for changes that could fuel more usage of the commercial blockchain.

Called the Merge, the upgrade completed in the early hours of Thursday, according to a Twitter post by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

The change replaced power-hungry computers that were used to order transactions on the network with a more energy-efficient setup using piles of the network’s native token, Ether, placed in special, so-called staking wallets. As a result, Ethereum’s energy consumption will decline by an estimated 99 per cent.

'The Merge': What to know about the Ethereum upgrade