What was The Merge?

The Merge was the joining of the original execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet that has existed since genesis) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminated the need for energy-intensive mining and instead enabled the the network to be secured using staked ETH. It was a truly exciting step in realizing the Ethereum vision—more scalability, security, and sustainability.

Initially, the Beacon Chain shipped separately from Mainnet. Ethereum Mainnet - with all it's accounts, balances, smart contracts, and blockchain state - continued to be secured by proof-of-work, even while the Beacon Chain ran in parallel using proof-of-stake. The Merge was when these two systems finally came together, and proof-of-work was permanently replaced by proof-of-stake.

Imagine Ethereum is a spaceship that launched before it was quite ready for an interstellar voyage. With the Beacon Chain, the community built a new engine and a hardened hull. After significant testing, it became time to hot-swap the new engine for the old one mid-flight. This merged the new, more efficient engine into the existing ship enabling it to put in some serious lightyears and take on the universe.

Introduction:

Ethereum recently switched to using a Proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol. For more information on this switch, please see The Ethereum Organization.A new schema (`ethereum.beacon_chain`) was just released containing data around the Consensus Layer that can be used to analyze the Beacon Chain. Documentation for these tables can be found here.

Question:

Using the beacon_chain schema, analyze the decentralization of the PoS network, as well as slashings of proposers and attesters since the Merge.

Methodology:

I answer this question in 2 separate parts:

• First, I tried to find all metrics about the beacon chain - For this purpose, I used beacon_chain.fact_deposits table of Ethereum schema.
• Second, I tries to find slashing types - For this purpose, I used beacon_chain.fact_blocks table of Ethereum schema.

Overview of Beacon:

Slashing types (Slashing or No Slashing):

Conclusion:

• Since the merge, over 1,2 ETH deposited by 38K unique validators.
• 92% of validators have put 32 ETH into the beacon chain.
• ~420K slots have been in the No slashing type (~100% of total slots) and only 23 slots have been in the slashing type.
• After the merge of Ethereum, the number of slashing decreased, which indicates the success of the merge operation.

As you know, the Ethereum Merge occurred on September 15, 2022. The charts above show daily metrics from the merge till now.

• Totally, ~41K deposits have been made. On average ~680 deposits per day. The number of deposits per day increased till the end of Sep, then decreased till mid-Oct, then increased again.
• Since the Merge update, there have been more than 38k registered validators on the chain. On average ~680 validators per day. The trend of the number of unique validators per day is similar to the number of deposits.
• Totally, there are ~2.8K slots since the merge. On average ~44 slots per day.
• Since the merge upgrade, ~1.2M ETH has been deposited into the Beacon chain in ~41K deposit transactions, with an average deposit volume of ~20K ETH per deposit transaction.
• 92% of validators have put 32 ETH into the beacon chain.

• ~420K slots have been in the No slashing type (~100% of total slots) and only 23 slots have been in the slashing type.
• After the merge of Ethereum, the number of slashing decreased, which indicates the success of the merge operation.