Exactly 200 days after Ethereum transitioned from the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, the impact of changing network tokenomics became clear. After The Merge, the number of rewards given out to those who manage the network decreased. Combined with the previously introduced burn mechanism, which burns a portion of the fees generated from transactions, this has resulted in a reduction in the supply of Ether.
Since The Merge, the total supply of Ether has decreased by 75,000 ($134.5 million), representing an annual decline of 0.114%. By comparison, if The Merge had never taken place, the total supply of ether would have increased by 2.2 million – worth more than $4 bln at current prices. However, thanks to The Merge, there is a temporary inability to unstake Ether, an action that will become available shortly after the Shanghai update is implemented on April 12.
Shanghai will allow those who have staked Ether to unstake their coins, but not all at once, and staking pools will be able to determine when they release the reward. Coinbase has stated that it will begin accepting requests to unstake coins from staking 24 hours after the end of Shanghai. However, the exchange also noted that “demand for unstaking will be high soon after the upgrade and it may take the protocol weeks to months to process unstaking requests.”
This article was originally published by Crypto News.
