What the Ethereum Merge Means for NFTs – Decrypt

We’re days away from Ethereum’s long-awaited merge, in which the leading network for dapps and NFTs will shift to a more energy-efficient system. It’s years in the making, but as the mid-September target draws near, many users are wondering what could go wrong—and whether anything will change with their owned assets.

That’s especially true when it comes to NFTs, with tens of millions of profile pictures, collectibles, and pieces of artwork now running on Ethereum—some of which have commanded eye-popping sums amid the NFT market’s propulsive surge over the last couple years. What happens to your NFTs after the merge?

The simple answer is: probably nothing. They’ll still be in your wallet and should function as usual on marketplaces and within dapps. But the overall picture is more complicated than that, primarily due to the expected emergence of community-led forks of Ethereum following the merge. Duplicate NFTs will appear as a result, potentially leading to confusion and scams.

What do you need to know about Ethereum NFTs going into the merge, and what could happen afterwards? Decrypt spoke to Ethereum experts about what to expect as the multi-billion-dollar NFT market reckons with some expected twists and turns ahead.

On the merged chain

The merge will see Ethereum shift from the current proof-of-work mining model—which requires ample decentralized power to process transactions—to a proof-of-stake consensus system that’s expected to use over 99% less energy, according to the Ethereum Foundation. That’s a huge step forward for Ethereum and especially for NFTs, effectively negating one of the biggest criticisms of NFTs.

As mentioned, the merge has been in the works for years, and Ethereum’s core developers have painstakingly tested every process and worked through potential hitches. While that’s no guarantee that the transition will be seamless, developers and creators widely expect a pretty smooth process ahead.

“Ethereum is software, and all software suffers from the halting problem—in other words, it’s impossible to determine with certainty if there will be any technical hitches,” Eric Diep, co-founder of smart contract startup Manifold, told Decrypt. “That said, I wouldn’t bet against ETH’s developer community.”

If everything goes according to plan, however, then Ethereum NFTs should function just fine on Ethereum’s newly upgraded mainnet. They’ll still be held within your wallet(s) and work as usual on marketplaces, and you don’t have to do anything to prepare for the merge. That’s all being handled on the developer side of things to hopefully ensure a seamless transition.

“Users should expect that their NFTs will safely reside on…