Forest Knight — Merge For A Greener Future
The Forest Knight universe is part of a much bigger ecosystem, and, ultimately, the world in which we live. What does the Ethereum merge mean for us, and how are we doing our part to reduce the carbon footprints we leave behind?
With the upcoming merge and Layer 2 technology, there’s been a lot of talk about how much impact blockchain technology has on the environment. According to a study done by ISACA: “Several sustainability experts believe that cryptocurrency production itself is estimated to generate between 22 and 22.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Offsetting cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint would require planting 300 million new trees.” These are concerning stats since back in 2019, one bitcoin transaction equated to roughly 330,000 credit card transactions. No matter how we look at the numbers, it reflects poorly on the technology given the massive shift in temperatures the world is experiencing.
A Better Carbon Footprint
We all know Forest Knight has NFTs. These are in-game assets that players can earn for free during their gameplay. Every time you mint a Forest Knight NFT, a transaction eventually occurs in the Ethereum ecosystem, raising the carbon footprint. Through Polygon’s blockchain technology, Forest Knight has managed to shrink its CO2 debt but there’s still more we can do. We are going a step further by only supporting assets in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake chain rather than the Proof-of-Work. Our position remains strong: we are working toward a greener future. Proof-of-Stake assets and Layer 2 are the only way.
Quoted from Forest Knight CEO, Behfar: “Blockchain technology has brought the world together, but being responsible and owning up to your carbon debt is only the first step. The entire industry has to be proactive and go with what’s best long-term. Proof-of-Stake and Layer 2 are a step in the right direction, and Forest Knight is committed to making decisions that support Earth and future generations.”
What is the merge?
The merge is Ethereum shifting away from Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake system, merging with its Beacon Chain, reducing its energy consumption by ~99.95%.
According to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, blockchain is affected by what’s known as the scalability trilemma. The blockchain trilemma described the process of balancing scalability, security, and decentralization.
Before the merge, Ethereum’s use of Proof-of-Work meant the network was much more decentralized but could never scale as much as the network demands. The same goes for Proof-of-Stake. In that model, scalability is much easier to handle. There are a few legitimate concerns for decentralization in Proof-of-Stake, namely, wealthy people hoarding tons of ETH so they can validate the transactions they want.
What is the difference between Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS)?
PoW uses a decentralized network to verify transactions, whereas PoS uses validators that contribute with tokens. Validators will use ETH as collateral. In exchange, they have a chance to validate the latest transaction and earn tokens.
Why is Ethereum moving to PoS?
Among many other things, PoS lowers the entry barrier by reducing hardware equipment needs. The main focus is on lowering energy consumption, increasing security, and eventually improving scalability through sharding.
If you’d like to learn more about it, then go to the official Ethereum website below:
https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/
Frequently Asked Questions
Will transaction speeds improve?
Barely. The merge is the shift toward Proof-of-Stake and not about directly improving transaction speeds.
Will gas fees experience any changes?
It’s hard to say. The fees should remain the same, but no one can guarantee anything. Although our users are on the Polygon blockchain and the fees calculate differently, we wanted to address this since the changes to Ethereum (eventually) affect everyone.
How will the merge affect Forest Knight users?
Forest Knight users will be unaffected by the merge changes. Be aware of scams happening during this period. The most common one is people asking you to send them your ETH so they can “upgrade it to ETH2”. There is no ETH2. Simply hodl your funds. Once the merge is complete, there will be no difference between ETH 1 and ETH 2.
Between the 14th and 16th of September, the servers could experience instability. This will be completely normal and we will keep you updated consistently on our social media channels.
So sit tight while we go through this together. Thank you for your patience!
About Forest Knight
Forest Knight is a tactical RPG game where you assemble teams of heroes, equip them with uniquely designed and powerful NFTs to defeat the Skeleton Master, and climb the leaderboards against other knights!
Sometimes knights do know best, and we understand that. We want to make every one of you count. Come and join our game! See what Forest Knight offers in Early Access!
If you haven’t already, you can join our Telegram group, Telegram Announcement Channel, and Discord community. Follow us on social media, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
See you on the battlefield!
Forest Knight Team.
