Ethereum developer confirms proof of stake delay, a.k.a. "The Merge"

[Daniel Sims]

Why it matters: PC gamers have long awaited the day when cryptocurrency Ethereum switches to proof-of-stake, which would theoretically end the use of high-end GPUs to mine it and hopefully loosen their supply for gamers. An Ethereum developer confirmed this week that the wait for "The Merge" will be a little longer.

Ethereum developer Tim Beiko recently tweeted that the cryptocurrency won't be moving to proof-of-stake in June as expected. Despite the delay of a few months, he maintains that the switch is nearing.

Ethereum's current proof-of-work model has made GPUs its primary mining tool. This has pushed up the demand for them and exacerbated the global semiconductor crisis' effect on their prices. During the worst of it last year, some GPUs were going for over double their MSRP.

It won't be June, but likely in the few months after. No firm date yet, but we're definitely in the final chapter of PoW on Ethereum

— Tim Beiko | timbeiko.eth "🧱 (@TimBeiko) April 12, 2022

In what is hopefully a sign of the crisis's end, Beiko on Twitter discouraged buying more mining equipment. In another good sign for the GPU market, Ethereum's value since the beginning of 2022 has dropped significantly from its peak last November.

In March, GPU prices looked much better than late last year, sinking more than 10 percent from this February, while Nvidia is trying to build hype around its attempt to rally supply. Graphics cards aren't back down to MSRP yet, but if things continue in this direction, they can be this year.

Who knows what the market will look like by the time Intel's first line of desktop GPUs, AMD's RDNA 3 series, and Nvidia's RTX 4000 cards arrive later this year. Hopefully proof-of-stake will have arrived as well.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/94229-ethereum-developer-confirms-proof-stake-delay-aka-merge.html

 

[winjer]

Constant promises and constant delays.
It´s like this is a scam..........

 

[datoek]

As always, rinse and repeat...

 

[elementalSG]

Ugh. Just merge already!

 

[Revolution 11]

It's as if people just forget the law of supply and demand still applies. The GPU pricing problem will never really go away until a new supply of GPUs comes online....which is still going to happen in 2024 as originally planned. Fabs take time to plan, construct, and validate for mass production.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Etherium isn’t going POS any time soon… anyone who thought so was a fo….

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Mining will become more difficult as electricity prices continue to rise.

 

[Achaios]

Reminder that they have been saying the same thing since 2019, it's 2022 and the move to PoS keeps getting delayed for "a few more months".

 

[Lew Zealand]

Meh, I've already seen this movie when Robert Jordan delayed finishing his Wheel of Time series so long that he died and someone else had to polish off the bloated snake of a boring story.

 

[Skjorn]

Mining will become more difficult as electricity prices continue to rise.

Cost of electricity and difficulty are not related.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Cost of electricity and difficulty are not related.

The point might be... if you have to pay more for electricity, it would be difficult to PROFIT from mining... so less people will...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The point might be... if you have to pay more for electricity, it would be difficult to PROFIT from mining... so less people will...

Or it'll result in the price of gas fees inflating like it has with everything else, and by extension the value of Ethereum.

Reminder that they have been saying the same thing since 2019, it's 2022 and the move to PoS keeps getting delayed for "a few more months".

2019? Etherium was talking about PoS back in 2016!

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33802343/when-will-ethereum-switch-to-proof-of-stake

Anyone who thinks this will happen before the owners of the crypto system figure out a way to screw over everyone that uses it is one hell of a fool. There is so much money in proof of work.

 

[bviktor]

and the beat goes on...

 

[PEnnn]

Weird, it's almost as if the GPU makers are greasing the palms of some people at Ethereum, so they can keep milking the cash-cow, aka GPU consumers a few more years.....

Nah, it can't be that....must be something much more innocent...
</s>

 

[Moochy]

Constant promises and constant delays.
It´s like this is a scam..........

Not like a scam, it is a scam.

 

[m4a4]

Not like a scam, it is a scam.

...Only if you change the definition of 'scam'... lol

 

[kiwigraeme]

Meh, I've already seen this movie when Robert Jordan delayed finishing his Wheel of Time series so long that he died and someone else had to polish off the bloated snake of a boring story.

I actually liked the first 5 or 6 books - then it was turgid dross . Someone needs to edit last books down to 3 or 4 - I never finished it - average descripted writer - too many new people who meant nothing - no action - I only know of a few excellent descriptive writers - where reading is a joy not a slog eg Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain, Eric Newby , Victor Canning to name a few - Hemmingway was good too I suppose

 

[Lew Zealand]

I actually liked the first 5 or 6 books - then it was turgid dross . Someone needs to edit last books down to 3 or 4 - I never finished it - average descripted writer - too many new people who meant nothing - no action - I only know of a few excellent descriptive writers - where reading is a joy not a slog eg Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain, Eric Newby , Victor Canning to name a few - Hemmingway was good too I suppose

Same experience for me. I think I actually made it through #7 and bought and started 8 and gave up quick. 5 concurrent plots and 3-4 times as many characters, when I'm barely involved in 1 or maybe 2 of the plots and need to wade through the rest until those come up again... Yeah, I'd like to read a heavily edited version.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Same experience for me. I think I actually made it through #7 and bought and started 8 and gave up quick. 5 concurrent plots and 3-4 times as many characters, when I'm barely involved in 1 or maybe 2 of the plots and need to wade through the rest until those come up again... Yeah, I'd like to read a heavily edited version.

I recently re-read the entire series to prep for the TV show (which was TERRIBLE!). While I recall it being a huge drag my first read, it actually holds up better when you read it through... probably because the first time there were years between books...

 

[NightAntilli]

Ugh. Just merge already!

The risk is too high to just release things. They have to make sure that everything works well. Making a mistake here, if large enough, could kill Ethereum forever.

 

[Ray Holt]

ETH is not the only game in town and when GPU prices drop its only better for mining