The Ethereum Foundation is excited to announce the winners of the Merge Data Challenge 🐼.

The challenge ran for ~9 weeks surrounding the Merge, allowing for data analysts to gather and review information both before and after the big event. Participants submitted a treasure trove of data and analysis in 45(!) different blog posts.

Enjoy combing through the many insights and, as everything is open source, feel free to open things up and extend/modify the analysis!

Prizes

Prizes are divided into three tiers, based on the overall quality, scope, extensibility, and usefulness to the community.

Gold ($30k prize) 🥇

• pintail - Since the Merge: How Are Things Changing?
• Jannik Luhn - Attestation in Data

Silver ($10k prize) 🥈

• Jim McDonald - Exploring the Impact of MEV Relays
• Ethereum Pools - Performance Analysis of Ethereum Staking Pools During The Merge
• Ultrasound.Money - The Merge and ultrasound.money
• fmrmf - Converging to the Target
• Kirubakumaresh Rajendran - EthLooker -- A Unified Ethereum Dashboard

Bronze ($2.5k prize) 🥉

• Anton Wahrstätter - Practical Guide into Analyzing MEV in the Proof-of-Stake Era
• petclippy - Ethereum validators, performing under pressure
• Austin Adams - The Impact of 12 Second Block Times on Decentralized Finance
• Xin Wan - Decentralization of block production pre- and post-Merge
• Brian Wilkes - MEV Post Merge Changes (DEX)
• Migalabs / Metrika - Validators or value-takers?
• pa7x1 - A Tale of Two Tails: How the Merge Lowered Ethereum Gas Prices

Looking Forward

The Merge Data Challenge produced excellent new tools, analyses, and visualizations. That said, there is ongoing work to do in monitoring and understanding Ethereum's proof-of-stake network -- especially in the Beacon Chain consensus-layer.

If you're interested in digging deeper or productionizing the tools and techniques found in these submissions, please consider applying to the Ecosystem Support Program!