From the article: Ethereum, the world's second-largest crypto asset by market cap, has drastically changed its energy usage, saving a country-size proportion of power consumption.

This radical update most likely reduced the power consumption of the crypto network by 99.84 percent to 9.99 percent, according to a paper published by peer-reviewed data-science journal Patterns on Tuesday.

"This perspective highlights how Ethereum, the second largest crypto asset by market capitalization, likely succeeded in significantly reducing its power demand through an event called The Merge," read the study.

"This event occurred on September 15, 2022, and consisted of Ethereum's proof-of-work mining mechanism being replaced with an alternative known as proof of stake."

The decrease in energy use might be enough to meet Austria's or Ireland's national electrical needs.

The success of The Merge may now serve as a roadmap to enable a switch from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake in Bitcoin and other crypto assets still utilizing Proof of Work, as per the study.

However, it would still be premature for the Ethereum community to declare a "complete victory" over the sustainability concerns facing crypto assets.

Blockchain was traditionally upheld and validated by a Proof of Work mechanism employed by various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

A blockchain is a massive, dynamic database that records every transaction and underpins Ethereum, just like it does with all other cryptocurrencies.

In return, companies and volunteers who contributed their computers to the network's operation received new cryptocurrency coins. The likelihood of producing new coins increased as they performed more labor.