A memory of a bygone era? The last Ethereum block to be produced before The Merge has been turned into a non-fungible token (NFT), thanks to a $50,000 transaction. How was this possible
An NFT of the last Ethereum block before The Merge
It was the Vanity Blocks project that wanted to capture this historic moment. And to do so, it had to make sure that the last block in PoW contained only one transaction.
To do this, it cost 30.2 ETH, or about $50,000 at the time of the transaction. Why 30 ETH? Because that is the gas limit per block. This ensured that the creator of the NFT was alone on this block.
One of my fav investors, helped make this thing happen https://t.co/Zp92xCxsm6
– vanityblocks.eth (✨,️) (@VanityBlocks) September 15, 2022
The block also contained a message:
“If you commit, nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream of the impossible and the world will not crush you, it will carry you. That’s the secret. “
An achievement for Vanity Blocks
It’s been a tall order for Vanity Blocks. As the creator of the project explained to Decrypt, they estimated their chance of getting the block to be 15%. They also had to work with the big miners. In total, it took Vanity Blocks a month of work to set up the project.
The NFT is listed on OpenSea. So far, the highest bid has reached 10 ETH, or $14,737 at the current price. The visual is not yet final, and Vanity Blocks intends to find artists to best depict the block.
In any case, this is a historical marker for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The Merge has been anticipated for many, many years, and Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake will undoubtedly be seen as a crucial milestone for its development.
