Encyclopedia Ethereum · Entry 18
The Merge: Ethereum changed consensus while preserving its history
In this article
At a glance
Key facts
The mechanism choosing blocks changed
Before the transition, Ethereum’s execution chain used proof-of-work mining. The Beacon Chain had been running proof of stake alongside it. The Merge connected execution to that consensus system, ending mining as the method of extending canonical Ethereum.
Execution clients still process transactions and contracts. Consensus clients and validators handle proof-of-stake agreement. The change in consensus did not replace every application with a newly written one.
Example: a holder did not need to swap old ETH for new ETH
Imagine an account with 1 ETH before the transition and no intervening transactions. The protocol transition did not require its holder to send that ETH somewhere to obtain an upgraded coin. The existing state continued.
The same continuity matters for contract storage and token records. An unsolicited request to migrate an account merely because of the Merge was not a requirement of the protocol transition.
Issuance changed more directly than execution capacity
Proof-of-work block rewards stopped, while consensus rewards continued under proof of stake. Base-fee burning had already begun with the London upgrade, so its origin should not be dated to the Merge.
Transaction fees depend on demand and available resources. The Merge did not itself provide the large execution-capacity expansion that would make every interaction cheap. Rollup and data-capacity work address different parts of scaling.
Later features should not be folded into the 2022 event
Staking withdrawals arrived through the later Shanghai/Capella upgrade. Further changes, including compounding validator balances and account delegation, belong to subsequent protocol upgrades.
Historical explanations become clearer when each change retains its date and scope. Eth2 was an old umbrella term; it is not the name of a separate replacement asset that users must acquire.
Direct answers
Questions people ask
Did users have to exchange their ETH at the Merge?
No. Existing balances and history continued. The Merge did not require ordinary holders to swap ETH for a new protocol token.
Did the Merge make all Ethereum transactions cheap?
No. It changed consensus without a corresponding large expansion in execution throughput. Fees still depend on resource demand and capacity.
Did staking withdrawals start on Merge day?
No. Withdrawal functionality arrived in a later upgrade. Consensus transition and withdrawal activation are separate historical events.
Inspect the evidence
The answer and key facts have stable claim links. These records retain the scope and qualification when reused.
The Merge was Ethereum’s September 2022 transition from proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake consensus. Its existing execution history and balances continued. Users did not need to exchange ETH for a new token. The change ended proof-of-work issuance, but it was not itself a broad transaction-fee reduction or the launch of staking withdrawals.
Scope: Ethereum. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T15:10:23.134Z.
Link to this claimTransition: September 2022, from mining to proof of stake
Scope: Ethereum. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T15:10:23.134Z.
Link to this claimBalances: Existing ETH and application state continued
Scope: Ethereum. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T15:10:23.134Z.
Link to this claimWithdrawals: Enabled by a later upgrade, not the Merge itself
Scope: Ethereum. Verification: verified · 2026-10-02T15:10:23.134Z.
Link to this claimRevision history
- — First publication after primary-source research and independent automated verification.
Source register
Sources and references
Retrieval dates and locators are recorded individually.- The Mergeethereum.org contributors
Supports the 2022 consensus transition, preservation of history and ETH balances, and separation from fee scaling and withdrawals.
Locator: What was the Merge; users and holders; misconceptions; relationship between upgrades · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:43.712420+00:00Open source - How ETH supply changed after the Mergeethereum.org contributors
Supports consensus issuance versus fee burning; historical issuance estimates are not used as current rates.
Locator: Post-merge issuance; the burn · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:44.215542+00:00Open source - Ethereum protocol upgrade historyethereum.org contributors
Records shipped Pectra changes including EIP-7702 and EIP-7251; supports dated historical upgrade context.
Locator: Prague-Electra (Pectra); Paris (The Merge); London · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:42:49.753070+00:00Open source - Staking withdrawalsethereum.org contributors
Supports legacy/compounding withdrawal differences, withdrawal credentials, queues and fees for execution-triggered requests.
Locator: Compounding validators; exiting staking entirely; gas free · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:43.704850+00:00Open source - Proof of stakeethereum.org contributors
Supports 12-second slots, 32-slot epochs, stake-weighted checkpoint voting and block verification.
Locator: Validators; transaction execution; finality; fork choice · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:43.818781+00:00Open source - Ethereum accountsethereum.org contributors
Supports accounts versus wallet software and account state fields. The older empty-code EOA description is qualified using EIP-7702.
Locator: Account types; an account examined; a note on wallets · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:40.369782+00:00Open source - Gas and feesethereum.org contributors
Supports gas units, ETH/gwei units, base/priority fees, resource limits and charges for executed failed transactions.
Locator: How are gas fees calculated; base fee; gas limit · Version / scope: dcc900ff125891da5b6c723b905a7113cf1bd864 · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:35:40.393022+00:00Open source
Research and drafting use AI assistance. A separate automated review checks claims against primary sources; no external expert or named human review is implied. Publication, substantive editing, source retrieval and verification are recorded separately. This version was independently checked by an automated reviewer on 2 October 2026.
Editorial method and correctionsDegrees of Satoshi editorial project. “The Merge: Ethereum changed consensus while preserving its history.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/ethereum-merge/