Bear in mind that the network's goal of becoming a green blockchain makes it necessary for it to make the shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. This results in improved energy efficiency over the long run as well as a smaller overall carbon footprint.

The annual amount of energy used by ETH

Before the Merge took place a month ago, the total amount of energy that the ETH network consumed was somewhere between 46.31 TWh and 93.98 TWh on an annual basis. Remember that the energy usage by the network was at its lowest on the 26th of December 2019, when it was reported at 4.75 TWh per year. Keep this information in mind. Take note of the significant shift in the amount of energy utilized during this time period.

After the completion of the Merge project, the network experienced a significant drop in its overall energy consumption of more than 99.9%. In addition, the network will keep its energy consumption at this low level for the foreseeable future.

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A less amount of carbon has been left behind by the Ethereum network, which is another positive development. The annual carbon footprint is estimated to be 0.1 million tons of carbon dioxide at this time (MtCO2).

The on-chain analytics company Digiconomist estimates that the amount of energy required to complete a single transaction on the Ethereum network is equivalent to that required to watch a film on YouTube for a duration of two hours.

Objections Have Been Raise To Centralization

Even though some of the cryptocurrency community hailed the ETH Merge, worries were raised regarding the centralization of blockchain technology as well as increasing regulatory oversight.

After the Merge, there were indications that centralization was occurring. For instance, for 46.15 percent of all nodes, data storage, the processing of transactions, and the insertion of new blockchain blocks were all handled by only two addresses. Concerns were expressed concerning the financial commitment required to become an Ethereum validator by supporters of the network.

They assert that the entry-level requirement of 32 ETH, which is equivalent to around $41,416 based on the current exchange rate, is unattainable for the typical trader or newbie to the cryptocurrency market. It is for this reason that it renders such dealers unsuitable to become Ethereum validators.