While Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin stages a Twitter battle with Michael Saylor over the Microsoft founder’s Bitcoin (BTC) purist stance, he has other important crypto matters on his agenda to worry about. Most notably, the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 merge or what’s also known simply as the Merge.
According to recent news, the merge is the long-awaited ETH blockchain upgrade or Ethereum 2.0. Simultaneously, the network should be expected to move from “Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms.” This means that the ETH blockchain will no longer be subject to mining, as is the case with BTC. This also means that the exact price, or transaction verification, will be revealed once the ETH upgrade goes live.
A September 19, 2022, Target Date
It’s no exaggeration to say that the Merge has been a long time coming. Even then, when it is finally given the green light on September 19, 2022, it’s said that the complete transition to a blockchain PoS will not yet be complete, making some investors anxious about a highly anticipated Ethereum price spike. The true Merge is expected to happen between the Beacon Chain and the ETH mainnet, or so sources say.
However, Vitalik is quick to throw some cold water on these price predictions. During a recent interview, the botched-looking Ethereum wizard predicted that the anticipated merge ETH price would not change immediately after going live. He also said that the impact of the merge would not be limited to market sentiment, but to other aspects driven by both psychology and fiction.
However, with ETH having been outperforming even BTC in this latest bear market, it’s safe to say that the old adage, buy the rumor, sell the news applies when it comes to Ethereum 2.0. But investors will just have to wait and see what transpires in August and if another delay is to be expected.
not complete transition
While the merger between Beacon and the ETH blockchain is expected to happen eventually, the full, 100 percent transition to PoS will not happen yet. This alone could affect the price once things go live. Experts say there are still specific “market expectations” that coincide with the September launch date. Investors are counting on the ETH price increase as the Merge/Ethereum 2.0 goes live.
But it’s also being said that the ETH rally won’t actually become fact until half a year or more later. This is due to what’s called the “post-cleanup fork,” which is said to take an average of seven months to complete. Once that takes place, ETH developers should be willing to accommodate withdrawals. At the same time, an offering of a post-cleanup state ETH would occur.
It should also be noted that there will be a significant reduction in the supply of Ethereum after the merge. This comes from the EIP-1559 proposal which allows existing miners to burn ETH instead of issuing tokens. The idea behind this is to make ETH deflationary.
How Merge Will Affect Ethereum Price
During Buterin’s recent speech at the ETH Community Conference, he stated that investors should expect “fluctuations” in ETH’s price going forward. It should, however, increase given the right crypto market conditions. Many analysts believe there will be an ETH spike prior to the Merge and then a dip after the fact. Again, buy the rumor, sell the news.
Staked ETH is expected to remain locked after the merge, while ETH developers keep themselves busy with post-cleanup upgrades. Popular exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken are said to allow trading of staked Ethereum for half a year after the clean-up period.
Say the experts, the overall trend for Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH) is said to be expanding into positive territory. The prices of these digital assets are presently increasing in proportion to the present price of ETC (around U.S.$1,600 per ETH as of his writing).
However, ETH is down around 42 percent over the past three-month period. Nevertheless, ETC, stETH and ETH are again leading the way and even outperforming BTC in terms of market popularity, with the recent price gains of 22 percent, 11% and 12% respectively.
Is now a good time to purchase ETH for your portfolio? While you should always do your own research and/or consult with a professional financial advisor, it might not be a bad idea to begin aggressively dollar cost averaging (DCA) into ETH in preparation for the Merge.
