The Ethereum network has undergone a global update of The Merge (“Merge”), which involves the transition of the altcoin from the Proof-of-Work protocol to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), RBC writes. This means that now the security of the blockchain will be provided not by miners, but by validators – users who have deposited and blocked their share of coins (staking).

The main purpose of the update is to avoid the problems associated with the growth in the number of users. The hard fork aims to increase the speed, efficiency, and scalability of the cryptocurrency network so that it can process more transactions and provide a higher level of security.

After the upgrade, the Ethereum network may split. Previously, the largest crypto exchanges, including Binance, Poloniex and others, announced that they would credit users with ETH and WETH with new tokens if they appeared in a 1:1 ratio.