According to current data, since the deployment of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, the Ethereum network has burned 2.35 million ether. The $8.10 billion in value was burned over nine months, with 18,110 ether worth $34.9 million lost in the final seven days.
The Ethereum engineers implemented EIP 1559, a ruleset upgrade that essentially modified the algorithm tied to the protocol’s base fee per gas, and the network now burns the base fee per gas.
2.35 million ether worth $8.10 billion in USD has been destroyed forever after the August 5, 2021 London update, after EIP 1559 was codified into the codebase and made live.
Buterin said the update was “probably the most essential component of [the] London [upgrade]” the day after it was implemented.
In the last 24 hours, 2,396 ether worth $4.63 million has been burned.The network experienced its highest daily burn rate ever on May 1, 2022, with 71,718 ether worth $138.78 million. On January 10, 2022, the second greatest daily burn rate was recorded, with 19,424 ethereum worth $37.5 million burned.
Opensea is the largest ethereum burner today, having burned 229,925 ether over 14,639,327 transactions. Uniswap V2 has consumed 131,457 ether, and gas utilised for ether transactions has burned a total of 207,072 ETH.
While EIP 1559 was a significant protocol change in the London upgrade, The Merge will be the next major update. Ethereum will then switch from its present proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a full proof-of-stake (PoS) network.
What to expect from the “Merge”?
Proponents of Ethereum are already preparing for The Merge, believing that the shift will be formalised this summer. Consensys, an Ethereum-focused software business, just announced an early access version of “Bonsai Tries” on May 17, aiming to be a few steps ahead of the formal Merge transfer.
Furthermore, Ethereum engineer Preston Van Loon stated at the recent Permissionless conference that the public could see The Merge deployed by August. The Merge is expected to go operational in the third quarter of 2022, according to Ethereum developer Tim Beiko. Beiko went on to say that he “highly advises” miners not to invest in further mining rigs in the future.
Despite the imminent changes, Ethereum’s PoW hashrate peaked on May 13 at block height of 14,770,231, the most in the network’s history. Burning ethereum has become a standard component of the protocol, and many crypto enthusiasts believe the deflationary mechanism will make ethereum “ultra-sound” money.
According to a simulation of The Merge, ethereum will become scarcer following the shift. The issue pace of Ethereum is currently 5.4 million ether per year, but after The Merge, it will be around 500,000 ether per year. The current rate of supply growth is 3.7 percent per year; after the merger, it will be around 0.4 percent per year.
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