Everything You Need to Know About Ethereum's Purge

Ethereum is a decentralised blockchain with smart contract functionality, and the native cryptocurrency on the platform is Ether. Regarding market capitalisation, Ether (ETH), first conceived in 2013 by programmer Vitalik Buterin, is second only to BTC (Bitcoin).

Ethereum is currently going through various stages of critical roadmap development, including a Surge, Purge, Verge, and more.

Here is everything you need to know about Ethereum's Purge, which is essentially designed to get rid of unwanted clutter from the blockchain network to make it more accessible and efficient.

What exactly is Ethereum?

Before we look at the Ethereum price, let's take a quick look at what it is and some of its use cases.

Ethereum is a decentralised global software (open-source) platform. It's also referred to by many as a peer-to-peer network connecting computing devices (known as nodes) across the planet.

It enables users to transfer digital assets, make agreements, and coordinate directly with others.

It securely executes the contracts and verifies the application code written in to the contracts. Referred to as smart contracts, the tech enables people to transact securely with each other and without the interference of a centralised government or legislative authority.

Millions of people across the globe now use Ethereum, which has several benefits.

Ethereum transactions give participants full ownership, transparency, and visibility into transaction data because records on the ledger are verifiable, immutable, and securely distributed across a highly sophisticated and encrypted network.

ETH transactions are sent from and received by user-created Ethereum accounts. Someone who sends ETH has to sign transactions and spend ETH as a cost of processing transactions on its blockchain network.

In other words, anyone who is looking to use the Ethereum blockchain network would need at least a small amount of Ether.

The main uses of Ethereum are:

• A more open and transparent internet
• Online banking for everyone
• Commerce guarantees
• A peer-to-peer network
• Censorship-resistant
• Composable products
• Cheaper and faster cross-border payments

Everything you need to know about Ethereum's Purge

The 'Merge' was the first and most significant network upgrade, which essentially transitioned Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, turning it into a low-carbon blockchain.

It also created a far more reliable and secure network for a much smaller carbon footprint cost. Incredibly, the Merge – part of the Ethereum development roadmap, reduced the energy consumption required to sustain Ethereum by 99.95%.

In comparison, the 'Purge' is a series of upgrades designed to simplify the network's architecture by decluttering it of outdated network history and reducing historical data storage. The Purge will lighten the technical burden currently imposed on node operators worldwide. 

The latest upgrade is being referred to as EIP-4444, which optimises resource utilisation locally and sets a precedent for expiring historical data after a certain amount of time.

The overall goals of the Purge are the following:

• Streamlining Ethereum Clients
• Optimising Storage Data
• Continued Evolution of Syncing Mechanisms
• Redefining Contract Functionality
• Enhancing Node Decentralisation

The fundamental purpose of Ethereum's Purge is to simplify and enhance the blockchain network and bring about many other exciting new possibilities.

Final thoughts

A successful Purge, which is currently ongoing, will simplify the protocol and limit the costs of participating in the network by clearing old history and eradicating technical debt.

It will also future-proof the protocol with more effective data storage while, at the same time, fix issues in the initial design of the network that were only implemented due to technological limitations at the time.

The Purge promises remarkable efficiency gains and will contain development threads related to simplifying EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).

ETH is currently being traded at around $3,302.02 and is ranked as the number 2 best-performing cryptos on the globally renowned CryptoNews.com website. It has a market cap of $396,471,430,500.00, and the total supply of Ethereum is 120,069,288.00.