Ethereum co-founder Buterin says any miner migration won’t slow software update Merge

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Ether's much anticipated software upgrade The Merge is set to take the blockchain to a system called Proof of Stake, in which staked Ether tokens will order transactions, from its current system called Proof of Work, a mechanism which uses powerful computers to order transactions.

In a recent webinar, ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that the blockchain’s software transition is unlikely to be significantly impacted even if some miners gravitate to alternative chains to mint tokens.

“I don’t expect Ethereum to really be significantly harmed by another fork. In general my impression from pretty much everyone I talk to in Ethereum ecosystem, they have been completely supportive of the proof-of-stake effort and the ecosystem has been quite united around it," Buterin said in a webinar on Saturday.

Buterin’s comments come ahead of a long-anticipated major software upgrade to the blockchain that aims to reduce the extensive energy use. The switch, which has become known as the Merge, is viewed as the most ambitious technical change in the blockchain world. Last month, Ethereum Foundation member Tim Beiko suggested September 19 as the provisional launch date for the Merge.

Soon, the current Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system. This will mark the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum, and the full transition to proof-of-stake. This sets the stage for future scaling upgrades including sharding. The Merge will reduce Ethereum's energy consumption by around 99.95%, it claims in its website.

Historically, blockchain software upgrades have often been surrounded by disruptions. Back in 2016, soon after Ethereum underwent a software upgrade to reverse a major hack, it experienced