Ethereum (ETH) gas prices are down at their lowest mark in more than a year. The drop comes amid an important period for the world’s second-largest blockchain which just completed the final of the three public testnet merges ahead of its long-awaited transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) from proof-of-work (PoW).
Ethereum Completes Third and Final Testnet Merge
Ethereum successfully completed its final testnet merge Goerli on Wednesday, marking the last important milestone for the blockchain before it transitions to the energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) model. At the same time, Ethereum gas prices plummeted to the lowest level since July 2021, the charts show.
Goerli marks the last of Ethereum’s three public testnet merges, with the mainnet Merge expected to come late next month. Several weeks ago, a key Ethereum developer Tim Beiko mentioned a provisional date, September 19, for the long-anticipated Merge.
The last testnet successfully transition to the PoS mechanism shortly after Ethereum’s total block difficulty rose past 10,079,000 at about 9:45 pm ET. The first two testnets including Ropsten and Sepolia moved to the PoS model in the past two months.
Goerli came across certain speed bumps at first but now the testnet appears to be operating normally. Late last month, Ethereum, which reportedly has one of the most reliable communities, announced the Bellatrix upgrade to Goerli’s beacon chain in anticipation of the final testnet merge.
Ethereum Now One Step Away From the Most-Anticipated Development
With all three testnet merges now complete, Ethereum is now just one step away from making its mainnet upgrade, the Merge. The Merge represents one of the most important developments for Ethereum and the broader crypto industry as it is expected to cut the blockchain’s energy use and carbon emissions by 99%.
Apart from making the blockchain significantly more energy efficient, the PoS mechanism brings several other important changes. For instance, with the PoS model, Ethereum will stop relying on miners and instead enable individual users to stake the native tokens and become the so-called validators.
Just like miners, validators can also verify network transactions and protect their privacy. To become validators, users must stake at least 32 ETH to become eligible for the block rewards. Those who are not able to stake 32 ETH can still contribute by staking ETH in a pool operated by third parties and getting a portion of the rewards.
Ether is up around 10% in the last 24 hours after completing the Goerli testnet. However, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently said the upcoming Merge is not priced yet and will not be “until after it happens.”
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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