Ethereum’s transition to the proof of stake protocol, which enables users to validate transactions and mint new ETH based on their Ether holdings, is part of a major upgrade to the Ethereum platform known as Eth2. The upgrade also adds capacity to the Ethereum network to support its growth, which helps to address chronic network congestion problems that have driven up gas fees.
Ethereum adoption is continuing, including by high-profile enterprises. In 2020, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced a joint venture with ConsenSys to create a network of data centers built on the Ethereum platform. Since 2015, Microsoft has had a partnership with ConsenSys to develop Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) technology on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.