The Ethereum Foundation has quadrupled bug bounty payments in preparation for the long-awaited switch to an energy-efficient model. The Ethereum Foundation has increased its reward for bugs found in code that is related to the merger. “Critical bugs” that are disclosed to the network’s engineers could earn a bug bounty up to $1,000,000, up from $250,000.
Ethereum’s eagerly awaited “merge” event is just around the corner. This will finally shift the network away form its energy-intensive miners model. This event has been years in the making and Ethereum’s stewards want it to go smoothly. They’re willing to spend serious cash to encourage white-hat hackers to spot potential problems in advance.
Today’s announcement included a new merge timeframe. Ethereum Foundation also revealed it has quadrupled bug bounties for network vulnerabilities related to the merger between now and September 8.
This means that bugs that are deemed “critically risky” will be paid up to $1,000,000 in reward funds. Instead of the usual $250,000. The Foundation will pay out a bounty of up $200,000 to bugs deemed high risk. “Medium risk” bugs can earn up to $40,000 while “low risk” bugs can yield up to an $8,000 reward.
Since the network’s developers discovered a way to safely transition to a secure consensus process that doesn’t require a Proof-of-Work mining method, the merge has been in the future for Ethereum. Users around the globe use powerful computers to verify transactions and receive ETH cryptocurrency rewards.
It is however a significant energy drain and has been seen as a strike against blockchain network amid growing usage cases with DEFI, FTs and other.
Instead, the network will move to a proof of-stake consensus mode. In this model, node operators have large amounts of ETH and are paid for validating transactions. According to the Ethereum Foundation, the new model will consume less than 1% of current network’s energy.
The merger was originally expected to occur on September 15th or 16th. However, the Ethereum Foundation announced today that it will take place between September 10th and 20th. This means it may happen sooner than anticipated. The enhanced bug bounty will ensure that there are no delays to the long-awaited transition.
