The Merge was no small feat, swapping out one way of running a blockchain, known as proof-of-work, for another, called proof-of-stake. The payoff is potentially gigantic - Ethereum should now consume 99.9% or so less energy. Ethereum’s developers say the upgrade will make the network – which houses a $60b ecosystem of cryptocurrency exchanges, lending companies, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other apps – more secure and scalable, too.