Ethereum’s shift to PoS (2022) cut energy use by 99.9%, but full shard rollout (2025) will boost throughput to 100k+ TPS. Staking rewards, now at 4.5% APY, may decline to 1.5-2% as validator count rises from 600k to 1M, reducing ETH’s yield appeal. However, reduced inflation (from 4.5% to 0.5% annually) and EIP-4844’s rollup optimization could increase ETH demand as a "settlement layer" for Web3. Historical data shows staking inflows correlate with ETH price (2024’s 50% price rise coincided with 2M ETH staked), making 2.0’s completion a bullish catalyst for long-term holders.