Eth Merge

2022 - 9 - 15

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Financial Times"

Hedge funds race to bet on outcome of Ethereum 'Merge' (Financial Times)

Laying wager on rise in ether price becomes 'one of most crowded trades in crypto history'

[Purchase a Print subscription for 11,12 € per week You will be billed 107,91 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_uk3m?segmentId=461cfe95-f454-6e0b-9f7b-0800950bef25&utm_us=JJIBAX&utm_eu=WWIBEAX&utm_ca=JJIBAZ&utm_as=FIBAZ&ft-content-uuid=f56c48ef-b3ea-4bc4-afbb-2773253a3dd4) [Purchase a Digital subscription for 6,64 € per week You will be billed 39 € per month after the trial ends](https://subs.ft.com/spa3_digital?ft-content-uuid=f56c48ef-b3ea-4bc4-afbb-2773253a3dd4) [Purchase a Trial subscription for 1 € for 4 weeks You will be billed 65 € per month after the trial ends](/signup?offerId=41218b9e-c8ae-c934-43ad-71b13fcb4465&ft-content-uuid=f56c48ef-b3ea-4bc4-afbb-2773253a3dd4)

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Coindesk"

Here's How Equity Investors Can Play Ethereum's Merge (Coindesk)

It's slim pickings for equity investors looking to trade one of the biggest events in the crypto industry, but there are a few options, including Coinbase ...

[Goldman Sachs](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/08/crypto-exchange-coinbase-to-benefit-near-term-from-staking-revenues-after-ethereum-merger-goldman-says/) and [JPMorgan](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/17/coinbase-will-be-meaningful-beneficiary-of-ethereum-merge-jpmorgan-says/) analysts also saw the Merge as potential short-term positive catalyst for Coinbase. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of [Digital Currency Group](https://dcg.co/), which invests in [cryptocurrencies](https://dcg.co/#digital-assets-portfolio) and blockchain [startups](https://dcg.co/portfolio/). [potential impact](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/08/17/tornado-cash-fallout-can-ethereum-be-censored/) of the U.S. [strict set of editorial policies](/ethics/). This might bring the debate over environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of PoW versus PoS to the forefront because it could allow some institutional investors, who were barred from buying tokens that run on PoW, to purchase ether for the first time, Bank of America analysts said in a [report](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/09/12/bank-of-america-says-the-ethereum-blockchains-upgrade-may-lead-to-greater-institutional-adoption-of-ether/) this week. 18, that he prefers [not censoring](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/18/coinbase-ceo-suggests-exchange-wont-censor-transactions-on-pos-ethereum/) transactions to and from those addresses after the transition to proof-of-stake. Chipmakers such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for the GPUs may also see knock-on effects resulting from the Merge. The company focuses on yield generation and providing infrastructure that supports the Ethereum ecosystem, according to its website. “Staking rewards continue to represent attractive revenue opportunities for long-term investors as they provide returns that are paid in kind,” investment bank Stifel Canada analyst Bill Papanastasiou said in an Aug. “At current [ether] ETH price/staked ETH we estimate COIN could generate $250MM revenue and $60MM contribution profit annualized,” said investment bank Cowen’s analysts led by Stephen Glagola in a Sept. Nevertheless, there are some potential plays in equity markets, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) among them, according to Wall Street analysts. “Many institutional investors are looking forward to [trading]

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Decrypt"

What the Ethereum Merge Means for Ordinary Users—And What It ... (Decrypt)

Ethereum is changing: moving from proof of work to proof of stake. But what does this mean to ordinary users? Here's what you need to know.

The move to proof of stake will add deflationary pressure to the cryptocurrency. Over time, it is possible that more ETH is burned than is issued on a yearly basis, but the merge alone will not make this happen. This combined with a drop in the issuance rate will add deflationary pressure to the cryptocurrency—but it won’t automatically make it deflationary. With proof of work, the total amount of miners are rewarded ~13,000 Ethereum per day. “You are giving your stake to someone else, who may decide to attack with that stake,” he said. Validators can be anyone with at least 32 ETH available to “stake,” or pledge, to the network. “ It is doable by anyone with a sufficiently good computer, electricity, and internet,” he said. “It hurts the network rather than helping, and the return on investment at the moment probably isn't worth it.” Right now, the cryptocurrency’s network uses the same consensus network as [Bitcoin](/resources/what-is-bitcoin-four-minute-instant-guide-explainer): proof of work. But this isn’t true—at least not yet, anyway, according to the Ethereum Foundation and experts who spoke to Decrypt. The long-awaited upgrade to the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is expected to take place tonight, based on [current estimates](https://ultrasound.money/). [proof of stake](https://decrypt.co/resources/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake).

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Coindesk"

As Ethereum Merge Looms, Michael Saylor Pushes Back Against ... (Coindesk)

The bitcoin maximalist, executive chairman of MicroStrategy and recently alleged tax evader says the Bitcoin network's output is 100 times greater in cost ...

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of [Digital Currency Group](https://dcg.co/), which invests in [cryptocurrencies](https://dcg.co/#digital-assets-portfolio) and blockchain [startups](https://dcg.co/portfolio/). [strict set of editorial policies](/ethics/). Saylor has previously pledged to defend Bitcoin against energy critics as a founding member of the Bitcoin Mining Council. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of [stock appreciation rights](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sar.asp), which vest over a multi-year period. But proponents of the original cryptocurrency and its energy-intensive [Ethereum After the Merge: What Comes Next?](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/08/01/ethereum-after-the-merge-what-comes-next/)

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Blockworks"

Why the Ethereum Merge Will Cause Price Volatility on ETHPoW (Blockworks)

Circle, the issuer of USDC — the largest dollar-backed stablecoin issued on Ethereum blockchain with a market capitalization of more than $45 billion — ...

When Ethereum Classic and Ethereum went through a hard fork — a foundational event that triggers a crypto protocol to splinter into two or more blockchains — in 2016, developers for both parties were reluctant to alter their respective identification mechanisms. DeFi projects employing USDC for collateral, as such, ought to have virtually zero value on the PoW chain. “With its staking yields, it will generate an infinitely scalable, long-term source of revenue for digital asset institutions, lenders and exchanges.” “Uniswap doesn’t require oracles,” Aggarwal said. “The exact time will be announced 1 hour before launch with a countdown timer and everything including final code, binaries, config files, nodes info, RPC, explorer, etc. [preparing to fork](https://twitter.com/EthereumPoW/status/1569427804764405761) the protocol recently [tweeted](https://twitter.com/EthereumPoW/status/1569428021437935617?s=20) “ETHW mainnet will happen within 24 hours after the Merge.”

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CNET"

The Ethereum Merge is Imminent. Here's Why It Matters (CNET)

The Merge will see the second biggest blockchain, ethereum, adopt a proof-of-stake model. It's estimated to reduce the blockchain's energy use by over 99%.

Critics of ethereum -- typically bitcoin enthusiasts -- compare the merge to changing the engine of an airplane in the middle of a passenger flight. "There are a lot of tech companies that have openly said, 'we are not going to do anything until after the Merge.'" Whereas a bad actor needs 51% of a network's power to overrun a proof-of-work system, they'd need 51% of the total staked ether to overrun the proof-of-stake system. Charbonneau reckons it could be safer because of a function called "slashing" – in essence, validators can have their staked ether burned, and their network access revoked, if they're found to have acted maliciously. In the run-up to the Merge, ethereum developers have been stress testing the new blockchain by running data and transactions through it on various ethereum testnets. "From speaking to ethereum developers, they've felt confident that had proof-of-work mining been, say, banned overnight, they could do the Merge even months ago and it would work," Charbonneau said. The network is made up of hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, meaning bad guys would need to control 51% of the power in this vast mining pool. Other times, as in the case of a proof-of-stake blockchain, staked cryptocurrency helps secure a protocol. The cute metaphor beguiles the importance of the Ethereum Merge to everyone, not just cryptocurrency supporters. The Ethereum Merge is scheduled to occur around 11 p.m. For proof-of-work blockchains, that resource is power – in the form of the electricity required to run a mining operation. It takes a powerful computer to have a chance in this race, and people typically set up warehouses full of rigs for this purpose.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "MakeUseOf"

What Is the Ethereum 2.0 Merge and When Will It Happen? (MakeUseOf)

The Ethereum Merge is the official merging of Ethereum's proof-of-work blockchain to its new proof-of-stake Beacon Chain, shifting the world's second-most ...

Whether you're ready or not, the Ethereum Merge is set to complete on 15 September 2022. From that moment, Ethereum switches to proof of stake, and history is made. [join an Ethereum staking pool](https://www.makeuseof.com/best-places-to-stake-ethereum/), which is what the majority of people will do. As with all things in life, nothing is 100 percent certain, and this applies to the Ethereum Merge. If you're already holding Ethereum in a wallet, you just need to sit back and wait for the Merge to complete. When it hits that figure, the Ethereum 2.0 Merge will proceed. Of course, that hasn't stopped traders from taking out long and short positions against Ethereum's prospective price, but with Ethereum 2.0 being such a shift from its existing blockchain structure, the outcome is unclear. Those who stake a whole 32 ETH become network validators, helping to run and secure the Ethereum network by processing transactions. After the switch to proof of stake, the new Ethereum Beacon Chain will consume 99.9% less energy. No, Ethereum 2.0 is still Ethereum. Energy consumption isn't the only issue Ethereum 2.0 aims to solve. [Proof-of-work](https://www.makeuseof.com/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake-which-is-better/) requires crypto miners to provide phenomenal amounts of computational power to match the complex hashes (an alphanumeric string) that link each block in the Ethereum blockchain.

Explore the last week