Upcoming Ethereum Merge Event Raises Concerns in Crypto Community

The upcoming Merge, Ethereum’s transition from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus process, has raised censorship concerns. The privacy and censorship-resistance of Ethereum have been under the limelight when the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Treasury sanctioned and blacklisted the addresses of the smart contracts of Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused mixing protocol. The general counsel of Delphi Digital, Gabriel Shapiro, thinks that significant Ethereum validators may attempt to advocate for a policy that would enact censorship at the protocol level. They could do business per the law and escape punishment for not engaging in illicit activities. About this problem, he said, “Can’t self-help by merely avoiding facilitation of blocks containing U.S. sanctioned transactions, because under certain conditions they might be dramatically slashed from doing so.” In contrast, Discusfish, co-founder of the Ethereum and Bitcoin mining pool F2pool, claimed that Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus assets were more equipped to withstand growing pressure than their Proof-of-Stake-based equivalents. He clarified, “In the discussion about PoS and PoW under regulatory pressure these days, there is one key point to pay attention to: Whether the block producer can remain anonymous and package some transactions that conform to the consensus on the chain (which may contain some sensitive transactions). PoW can...