The Ethereum Merge, completed in September 2022, transitioned Ethereum from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake, significantly reducing energy consumption and enhancing network efficiency. However, it did not directly address scalability bottlenecks. The Merge laid the foundation for future upgrades, like sharding, which are designed to improve transaction throughput and reduce costs. Post-Merge, Ethereum still faces high gas fees and network congestion during peak usage. Sharding, expected in future updates, will split the blockchain into parallel chains, boosting capacity. Until then, layer-2 solutions like rollups (e.g., Optimism, Arbitrum) are mitigating scalability issues by processing transactions off-chain while leveraging Ethereum’s security. These solutions have shown promise, but widespread adoption and optimization are ongoing. Thus, while the Merge was a critical step, it alone does not resolve Ethereum’s scalability challenges;