Changing the Engine Without Shutting Down? Understand Ethereum in 3 Minutes A blockchain that had been running for 7 years replaced its entire "engine" without going offline—that was The Merge in 2022.

Change the engine without shutting down? Understand Ethereum in 3 minutes A blockchain that had been running for 7 years replaced its entire "engine" without going offline—this was The Merge in 2022.
A 3-minute guide to Ethereum: From PoW mining to the EIP-1559 burn mechanism, from PoS staking to Layer 2 scaling, how has ETH's role changed over time? And what is the real question that will determine ETH's future?

The Merge is aptly compared to changing an engine without shutting down: the consensus-layer transition did not interrupt block production, thanks to the separation of the execution and consensus layers. One additional point: the base-fee burn mechanism introduced by EIP-1559, combined with lower PoS issuance, led ETH to experience net deflation during some periods. As for the question that will determine ETH’s future, whether fee revenue after scaling can support value capture on top of Layer 2 remains a key focus for the market.