Ethereum "2.0" Term Deprecated: Understanding Its Upgrade Process
"Ethereum 2.0" was once a widely used term in the community, referring to Ethereum's significant transition from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. However, since late 2021, Ethereum core developers have explicitly stopped using the terms "Eth1" and "Eth2," instead referring to the original Execution Layer and Consensus Layer collectively as "Ethereum." This terminology update aims to emphasize that Ethereum is a unified and continuously evolving network, rather than two separate versions.
Core Milestones: From Beacon Chain to "The Merge"
Ethereum's journey to PoS began on December 1, 2020, with the launch of the Beacon Chain. The Beacon Chain operated as an independent PoS chain, running in parallel with the mainnet, laying the foundation for the subsequent "Merge."
The most important milestone, "The Merge," was successfully completed on September 15, 2022. This merge integrated the Ethereum mainnet with the Beacon Chain, officially deprecating the PoW mechanism and transitioning the Ethereum network entirely to PoS. The main impacts of The Merge include:
- Significant Reduction in Energy Consumption: Ethereum's energy consumption decreased by approximately 99.95%, significantly enhancing its sustainability.
- Substantial Reduction in ETH Issuance: After The Merge, the daily issuance of ETH dropped from approximately 13,000 ETH (miner and staker rewards) to about 1,700 ETH (staker rewards only), an approximately 88% reduction in issuance, effectively alleviating inflationary pressure and potentially leading to deflation at certain gas fee levels.
- Validators Replace Miners: Network security and transaction processing no longer rely on miners but are handled by validators who stake 32 ETH.
- No Direct Impact on Gas Fees or Transaction Speed: The Merge itself did not directly reduce transaction fees or increase transaction speed; these improvements will be gradually implemented in subsequent upgrades.
Subsequent Important Upgrades and Future Roadmap
After "The Merge," Ethereum's upgrade pace did not stop, with several key improvements already completed:
- Shapella (Shanghai/Capella) Upgrade: Completed on April 12, 2023, enabling the withdrawal of staked ETH, enhancing the flexibility and liquidity of staking.
- Dencun (Cancun-Deneb) Upgrade: Completed on March 13, 2024, introducing "Blobs" (EIP-4844, Proto-Danksharding) technology, aimed at significantly reducing transaction fees for Layer 2 networks and substantially improving Ethereum's scalability.
Looking ahead, Ethereum's long-term roadmap remains ambitious, including the following main stages:
- Surge (Sharding): Aims to further improve network scalability through sharding technology, with the goal of achieving 100,000 transactions per second in conjunction with Layer 2 networks.
- Verge (Statelessness): Focuses on making the network stateless, reducing the burden on nodes to store historical data, thereby increasing decentralization.
- Purge (History Expiry): Aims to simplify the protocol and clear unnecessary historical data, further lowering node operating requirements.
- Splurge (Other Improvements): Covers a range of other optimizations and improvements to ensure the continuous development and refinement of the Ethereum network.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also proposed the "Lean Ethereum" roadmap in July 2026, planning a third major iteration of the protocol within the next three to four years, involving the replacement of almost all major protocol parts to achieve quantum security, privacy, faster finality, and other goals.
Current Network Status and Data Overview
As of August 12, 2026, the Ethereum network remains active, with approximately 41 million to 41.86 million ETH staked, accounting for about 33% to 34.68% of the total ETH supply, reaching an all-time high. The current annualized staking reward rate is approximately 1.70% to 2.90%.
In terms of market performance, as of August 12, 2026, the ETH price fluctuates around $1800. Although Ethereum's development history has seen delays, its core team and global developer community continue to drive network innovation and improvement.
Summary and Outlook
Ethereum's upgrade path is a continuous evolutionary process, from the successful "Merge" to the subsequent deployment of Shapella and Dencun, all demonstrating its strong technical capabilities and community collaboration. Although the future roadmap remains challenging, Ethereum's vision to enhance scalability, security, and decentralization remains unchanged. These continuous improvements will further solidify Ethereum's position as the world's leading smart contract platform.
