Despite the Ethereum Merge being hyped as a major upgrade to the blockchain network, its transition to proof-of-stake theoretically makes it more vulnerable to exploit.
Security researchers have explained that unlike proof-of-work systems, a proof-of-stake system informs node validators in advance what blocks they will validate, thus enabling them to plan attacks. The security expert, who asked not to be named, is a blockchain developer and security researcher working on a proof-of-stake layer-2 blockchain.
The researcher explained that an exploit could theoretically occur on the post-Merge Ethereum blockchain if validators manage to line up two consecutive blocks to validate. The expert also said that while it’s also possible for miners to validate consecutive blocks in PoW networks that comes down to pure luck and gives the miner no time to plan an attack. As a result, the security researcher argues that Ethereum will be forgoing some strength in security when the Merge takes effect:
The Ethereum Merge is finally set to take place on Sept. 15 at about 2:30am UTC. The transition to PoS is set to make the Ethereum network more scalable and energy-efficient.
