Broader crypto community reacts to merger

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A day has passed since Ethereum transitioned from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. In the wake of the merger – one of the most significant upgrades in Ethereum’s history – the crypto community remains buzzing with excitement, with congratulations pouring in from around the world as well as criticism. The last Ethereum block using the old proof-of-work consensus mechanism was mined on Thursday, September 15 at 06:42:42 UTC, marking the beginning of a new era for the wider crypto community. Many Ethereum developers, experts and community members have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts on the success of Merge, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. “And we finished! Happy to merge everyone. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.”, wrote Buterin. Another reaction came from Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange. He tweeted: “Merge successful. POS enabled. We’re all still here.” In his congratulations, Nischal Shetty, CEO of Indian crypto exchange WazirX, noted Ethereum’s role in building the Web3 ecosystem and how it was “AND for smart contracts”. “Era is coming to an end. Proof of stake Ethereum is here! Congratulations to the entire community,” said Joe Lubin, CEO of Ethereum software company ConsenSys. In another tweet, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse called it a “truly incredible technological feat,” while Yuga Labs said it was an important step in scaling Ethereum to its “first billion users.” As expected, skeptics also voiced their opinions. Journalist Jordan Schachtel said that Ethereum became a “WEF (World Economic Forum) coin” because of the merger that “puts all the value and control in the hands of people at the top.” “ETH fanboys watching the merger with anticipation is fun,” said Samson Mow, a former chief strategy officer at Blockstream. “There can be no technical errors in Ethereum because Ethereum’s existence is not based on any technology – it already failed in 2016 with the DAO fork. What exists today is a database run by a marketing company,” he added.Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash