The Ethereum network has been preparing for its highly anticipated transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

This is quite an exciting shift and a large audience has been waiting for it to happen. However, there were a few essential steps that needed to be taken before the Merge actually took place.

The Merge trials were essential as they enabled the independent project developers and Ethereum developers in understanding what to expect when the Merge officially occurs.

According to reports, Ethereum has completed the Merge trial on another major test network. While the test run was mostly successful, there were a few challenges that are mentioned below.

However, a bigger question ETH enthusiasts are left to wonder about is whether this will give a boost to ETH’s price or not.

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What to Know About the Latest Ethereum Testnet Merge?

After the Ropsten testnet, the next testnet ready for the Merge trial was called Sepolia. This was the second-to-last major Merge trial on the Ethereum network.

The trial run on Sepolia was anticipated to take the PoS transition one step closer and while it was majorly successful, there were a few complications noted as well.

Some of the complications noted by different members of the Ethereum network team are:

• Approximately 25% to 30% of validators went offline after the Merge due to wrong configurations.
• The actual success of the Merge cannot be determined immediately and needs at least a few hours.

These are non-critical issues that can be resolved and will not necessarily cause major problems. However, the trial runs did emphasize on one complication, which is an increase in third-party infrastructure on the main network Merge. This is not present on the testnets but it can be a challenge for the mainnet, according to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Buterin also stated:

“So there might be non-critical issues like that that will just pop up in the Merge that we’re not catching with these tests […] There’s a lot of peripherals that are just not getting tested and that’s unavoidable and probably fine.”

Before the Merge officially and completely takes place on the Ethereum mainnet, one final Merge trial is set to take place on the Goerli network.

Another major concern ETH enthusiasts have had is the impact of the transition on ETH’s price. The ETH token is currently trading at $1,170 (at the time of writing), which is an increase of 2.87% over the last 24 hours.

Here is a graph by CoinMarketCap that shows the price of ETH over the last 24 hours.

However, it has also been indicated that despite the news and price movement noted for ETH, a potential sell-off of the altcoin may occur.

What to Know as a New Crypto Investor?

As a new crypto investor, there may be several aspects that you are not fully aware of when you start investing in crypto. There are security risks and other obstacles that need to be considered by every investor to make the experience less stressful and challenging.

If you are new to the crypto space and want to invest in any digital asset, then you need to know some of the helpful tips mentioned below.

• Choose one of the popular crypto exchanges as per your requirements and criteria.
• Keep a check on the price movement of a digital asset.
• Know the right time to invest.
• Start by investing a small amount.

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