SummaryThe Merge will see Ethereum move from proof of work to proof of stake.After The Merge "hard fork" direct ETH holders may have ETHPoW and ETHPoS tokens.Potential for free money but permutations and hazards are numerous.The Ethereum (ETH-USD) Merge is coming, but what is The Merge?As often happens, it's not a merge, it's a big change. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, which has a virtual computer attached, which enables lots of clever things like DeFi (decentralised finance), NFTs (a kind of unique digital entity) and a number of other potentially revolutionary technical innovations.The trouble is, it is driven by a system called proof of work ("POW"). Within this structure, anyone can enter an arms race to be an administrator of the network using random computer hardware in a contest to "prove" they worked hard for that right. In the battle of "proof of work," computers race to solve a huge, nasty mathematical puzzle. The first to solve wins the prize of adding the next lot of information to the Ethereum blockchain and gets a reward equivalent to thousands of dollars. The problem with this proof of work arms race is that it is driven by computing which is in turn driven by electricity and that's not a popular mechanism right now. The fact that there are 250,000 bank offices burning electricity and that banknotes piled on top of each other would stretch a long way to the moon still doesn't let crypto off the hook of burning l...
