PRESS ROOM
Ethereum Merge complete. What’s changed?
Thursday 22nd September '22
The Ethereum network expanded the Bitcoin-conceived idea of a decentralised blockchain and added new functionality to the blockchain. It introduced programmable applications and smart contracts that would automate decisions and transactions. Smart contracts are self-executing pieces of code that create conditions for a certain action to take place. This means that it is the code that decides whether an action can take place or not, not a company or individual. This was a major breakthrough. Instead of having to rely on a centralised institution, or the subjective judgement of a person, the code would execute the transaction after certain code-determined conditions were met. Instead of having to trust a company or individual to conduct a transaction, the Ethereum network created a decentralised peer-to-peer network architecture where trust was decentralised. Ethereum developers say their main goal was to create a settlement layer for the internet of value.