Ethereum Merge was 'executed flawlessly,'- Eli Ben-Sasson

According to Starkware co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson, none of the things that people feared about the merge occurred, and everything went as planned.
As the dust cleared on the Ethereum network's widely anticipated move to proof-of-stake (PoS), Starkware co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson shared his insights on its execution and future potential.

Ben-Sasson spoke with Cointelegraph's Gareth Jenkinson at the Token2049 event about the current position post-Merge and how it affects layer-2 projects like Starkware. In addition, the CEO discussed the adoption and interest in layer-2 products, as well as the crypto winter.

Looking back on the Ethereum Merge's execution, Ben-Sasson was pleased that the transition went well and that everything went as it should. According to the executive:

“The most important thing is that it was executed flawlessly. Everything that was supposed to happen did happen. And none of the things that people were worried about did happen. And that's terrific news.”

Furthermore, the executive emphasized the significance of the new Ethereum network being better for the environment. "It reduces the carbon footprint." That's the important thing, and it also bodes well for future improvements," he said.

According to Ben-Sasson, the Merge also improves Ethereum's settlement layer and makes it a more friendly platform for layer-2 solutions. The CEO emphasized that this is a significant development for Starkware's products because it allows them to offer scaling, computation compression, and other benefits that their technology can provide.

Aside from the Ethereum Merge, Ben-Sasson stated that the majority of Starkware solution adoption and interest come from initiatives that were also successful in layer-1 Ethereum. Nonfungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain games, and decentralized finance are examples of this (DeFi). In addition, the executive discussed his plans for the future. He stated the following:

“I expect that at some point, the ability to run much more massive computation with very low gas footprint will lead to completely new and unforeseen applications that are going to be far more important.”

Despite everything that is going on, the executive expressed his conviction that, despite many people referring to the current state of the crypto and blockchain ecosystem as a crypto winter, his team believes differently. "We feel it as spring moves into the warm summer," he remarked.