The launch will radically shift the cryptocurrency’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. The shift will hopefully solve a number of issues of the Ethereum network such as scalability.
However, a notable thing here is that the network will not be the final launch yet. The current launch of the Ethereum 2.0 will actually activate a proof-of-stake blockchain called the beacon chain to run parallel along with the Ethereum network. This will not impact in any way the existing users on the network as well as the various dApps on the blockchain.
The activation of the beacon chain is the first of the four phases of the activation of Ethereum 2.0. The first phase will begin by onboarding validators followed by the final phase of all users and dApps to the new network.
The primary stakeholders of the beacon chain at the Ethereum 2.0 launch will be the validators of the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. This is similar to the miners on a proof-of-work consensus network.
For a user to become a validator on Ethereum 2.0, a minimum of 32 ETH needs to be staked through the deposit contract. These validations will be eligible for earning a 20% annualized reward on their staked ETH. More than 16,300 validators will be securing the network at launch.
Amid the Ethereum 2.0 launch, the price of Ether has been performing positively with its valuation crossing $600 for the first time today since 2018.