{"id":6803,"date":"2022-08-24T11:38:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T09:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/24\/techscape-how-a-major-change-to-ethereum-could-change-cryptocurrency-forever\/"},"modified":"2022-08-24T11:38:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T09:38:18","slug":"techscape-how-a-major-change-to-ethereum-could-change-cryptocurrency-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/24\/techscape-how-a-major-change-to-ethereum-could-change-cryptocurrency-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"TechScape: How a major change to ethereum could change cryptocurrency forever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s newsletter: Ethereum turning off its mining rigs and slashing the currency\u2019s carbon emissions should be good news. But not everyone agrees<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ablink.editorial.theguardian.com\/ss\/c\/TBl-lE0k4WbTlFRn6v-lQXxTpTslqnvUsR2ofAkC00vqkHXqakTSxrykj9mrdACFo11SPMvm9ONAti2JcHBqUgcduObToxycReEYHcTAh6nov_u_7l464yKkl5CZpPeg-CqG3ueb-8UiDZ4dOkhK_xu6BZysaGtGOA-w2_0KTqLsMBLqZrcGelEg-7T5C6DRfMSsX1Wcyrv2RlHjbzIGx0ePxMD7meIXmznkqCFxtrflV_YvxDV9cqXgzdq7c2-9qYTW0MyIMCG7p9sc7wIKCg\/3ha\/N7031ZxvS8Cv2AmB8PHP-g\/h27\/towm4HqYM1UtQe3kzAkaoAWT_zh9HyZuTvPyJCk6JeE\">Don\u2019t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On 15 September, the ethereum blockchain is planning to switch off its mining rigs. If it happens, it should reduce the carbon emissions of the entire ethereum ecosystem by orders of magnitude overnight, leaving bitcoin as the only major cryptocurrency to be built on the destructive proof-of-work concept. But the switchover could also throw some of the largest institutions in the sector into chaos, and seems likely to evolve into a cold war between the new version of ethereum and the diehard followers of the old. And that\u2019s if it happens at all.<\/p>\n<p>A brief refresher on cryptocurrencies. The two biggest in the world, ethereum and bitcoin, are based on an idea called proof of work. This \u2013 and I\u2019m simplifying \u2013 involves the networks outsourcing their security to a decentralised network of miners, who compete to burn ludicrous amounts of electrical energy to generate lottery tickets. Each time a winning lottery ticket is generated, the miner who did so gets a reward (for bitcoin, that is currently 6.25BTC \u2013 about \u00a3110,000), and gets to verify all the transactions that have happened since the last winner, packaging them up into a neat block, and adding them on to the chain made up of all previous blocks. They stamp the block with their lottery number and the process begins again.<\/p>\n<p><em>The switch to proof of stake has been planned for several years, with a host of problems, both technical and organisational, delaying implementation. But now, according to Carl Beekhuizen, a research and development staffer at the Ethereum Foundation<\/em><em> \u2026 the change will be complete \u201cin the upcoming months\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2022\/aug\/24\/techscape-ethereum-proof-of-work\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/49ca6967922a4ad467e3fab922346f4b9c7c3308\/0_63_4500_2702\/master\/4500.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=fff00c30e999858705748cd66565570d\" title=\"TechScape: How a major change to ethereum could change cryptocurrency forever\" \/>In this week\u2019s newsletter: Ethereum turning off its mining rigs and slashing the currency\u2019s carbon emissions should be good news. But not everyone agrees<br \/>\nDon\u2019t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here<br \/>\nOn 15 September, the ethereum blockchain is planning to switch off its mining rigs. If it happens, it should reduce the carbon emissions of the entire ethereum ecosystem by orders of magnitude overnight, leaving bitcoin as the only major cryptocurrency to be built on the destructive proof-of-work concept. But the switchover could also throw some of the largest institutions in the sector into chaos, and seems likely to evolve into a cold war between the new version of ethereum and the diehard followers of the old. And that\u2019s if it happens at all.<br \/>\nA brief refresher on cryptocurrencies. The two biggest in the world, ethereum and bitcoin, are based on an idea called proof of work. This \u2013 and I\u2019m simplifying \u2013 involves the networks outsourcing their security to a decentralised network of miners, who compete to burn ludicrous amounts of electrical energy to generate lottery tickets. Each time a winning lottery ticket is generated, the miner who did so gets a reward (for bitcoin, that is currently 6.25BTC \u2013 about \u00a3110,000), and gets to verify all the transactions that have happened since the last winner, packaging them up into a neat block, and adding them on to the chain made up of all previous blocks. They stamp the block with their lottery number and the process begins again.<br \/>\nThe switch to proof of stake has been planned for several years, with a host of problems, both technical and organisational, delaying implementation. But now, according to Carl Beekhuizen, a research and development staffer at the Ethereum Foundation \u2026 the change will be complete \u201cin the upcoming months\u201d. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s newsletter: Ethereum turning off its mining rigs and slashing the currency\u2019s carbon emissions should be good news. But not everyone agrees Don\u2019t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full article here On 15 September, the ethereum blockchain is planning to switch off its mining rigs. If it happens, &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/24\/techscape-how-a-major-change-to-ethereum-could-change-cryptocurrency-forever\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">TechScape: How a major change to ethereum could change cryptocurrency forever<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}