Just saw someone bringing up the Ethereum merge again, and it got me thinking about how much has actually changed since that happened. The thing is, the eth merge date was back in September 2022 when Ethereum finally transitioned to Proof of Stake — not December 2025 like some older posts still claim.

If you're just getting into crypto or missed that whole period, the eth merge date was a pretty massive deal. Gas fees were supposed to drop, energy efficiency was supposed to skyrocket, and the whole network was supposed to become more scalable. The reality? It's been a bit more nuanced than the hype suggested.

What's interesting now is looking back at what actually delivered versus what didn't. The security improvements were solid, and the energy consumption did drop dramatically. But gas fees? They're still dependent on network congestion and layer 2 solutions more than anything else. The eth merge date marked a real technical milestone, but it didn't magically solve every problem people thought it would.

The DeFi ecosystem has evolved a lot since then though. More protocols, better tooling, and honestly a more mature understanding of what Ethereum can and can't do. If you're watching ETH now, it's worth remembering that the merge was just one chapter in a much longer story of blockchain development.

Anyone else been here since the merge happened? Curious what actually surprised you most about how things played out.