Ethereum Debunks 8 Popular Misconceptions About The Upcoming Merge

The Ethereum Merge remains the most anticipated event within the crypto community in recent times. As Ethereum proponents and non-proponents await its outcome, some already have expectations. Others have propagated ideas of what they believe will occur post-Merge. In light of all this, the Ethereum team thought it necessary to disprove some false claims.

The Merge will not result in lower gas fees

Taking to the Ethereum official website, the development team exposed some misconceptions surrounding The Merge. The first misconception is the idea that one would need to stake 32 ETH to run a node. The team revealed that anyone can “sync their own self-verified copy of ETH” without having to stake so much as 1 ETH.

Generally, there are two nodes on the Ethereum network: the ones that present blocks and the ones that do not. At the same time, the nodes that propose blocks might require staking some ETH, the ones that require no ETH staking. The requirements for the latter only include a powerful enough computer and an internet connection.

Secondly, the team debunked the misconception of a reduction in gas fees post-Merge. “The Merge … will not result in lower gas fees,” the post says. Going further, the Ethereum team noted that transactions would not necessarily be faster after The Merge. They highlighted that transaction speed would largely remain the same on the L1 network, although slight changes will occur. 

Furthermore, they noted that stakers would not be able to withdraw staked ETH immediately after The Merge. According to the team, validators will only be able to withdraw their staked ETH after the Shanghai upgrade. The Shanghai upgrade is the major upgrade that follows The Merge.

However, the team further mentioned that validators could access their fee rewards even before the Shanghai upgrade. Additionally, according to the post, the claim that all stakers will leave at once immediately after the Shanghai upgrade is false. Validator exits are limited by rate, and exits will carry on successively.

The team also debunked the claim that staking rewards will triple post-Merge. They noted that there would only be an increase of 50%. Conclusively, the Ethereum team noted that the Merge would not result in any downtime in the network. They said Ethereum would switch to PoS without recording any network downtime.