The buzz surrounding the release of the Ethereum (ETH) Blockchain’s latest software update, Ethereum Merge, seems to be dying down for now. While Ethereum prices rose by around 50 percent in late July, when the developers revealed that September 19, 2022 was the tentative date for the release of Ethereum Merge, prices have been subdued in recent days.
As of August 3, 2022, Ethereum was trading at $1,609.44 at 8:00 AM IST, down 0.04 percent, according to Coinmarketcap data.
Although several enthusiasts are now questioning the effectiveness of the merger, some believe that the new update could lead to Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, posing massive competition to the market leader, Bitcoin (BTC).
What is the merger?
The current Ethereum Mainnet will soon merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system, according to information on Ethereum’s website. This will mark the end of proof-of-work for Ethereum.
“The merger is the most significant upgrade in the history of Ethereum. Extensive testing and bug bounty were conducted to ensure a safe transition to proof-of-stake,” the website said.
Recent concerns
Despite the enthusiasm, there are now concerns in some quarters about the merger.
“There are many potential risks with ETH Merge,” tweeted Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of Wintermute. “The fact that people have been working on it for years doesn’t mean it will work perfectly.”
The expected Ethereum edge over Bitcoin.
By default, Ethereum has some advantage over Bitcoin.
Blockchain Edge: The Ethereum Blockchain is fundamentally different from the Bitcoin (BTC) Blockchain, as Ethereum had enabled the deployment of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) that could be built and run without fraud, control or interference from third parties.
The main difference is block time. The ETH Blockchain can validate a transaction in seconds compared to minutes taken by the Bitcoin Blockchain.
Currently, both blockchains use the proof-of-work system to create a block and validate a transaction, but soon (possibly September 19, 2022 and beyond), the Ethereum Mainnet will merge with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system . The Beacon chain was created on December 1, 2020. In this Blockchain, proof-of-stake validators will take all responsibility for processing the validity of transactions and proposing new blocks.
Edge for environmental impact: The merger is expected to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by around 95.95 percent. This will also mark ETH as an environmentally friendly Blockchain. Currently, one ETH transaction produces 105.98 kg of CO2, and the annual carbon footprint of Ethereum is 47.43 Mt CO2 according to Digiconomist (
Supply edge: At the end of BTC’s roadmap, there will be no Bitcoin left for mining. Currently, 19 million BTCs have been mined, and only two million are left, which means that in the future Bitcoin may become a rare commodity. On the other hand, there is no limit to how many ETHs can be mined over time. Recently, Vitallik pointed out that “by the end, Ethereum will be able to process 100,000 transactions per second.”
Will ETH take over Bitcoin?
This has been on the mind of almost every crypto enthusiast ever since the news of the merger started floating. Now, according to some industry experts, it could happen at least in the medium term.
Says Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus Crypto Platform: “Ethereum (ETH) is very likely to become the largest cryptocurrency in the medium term, with the merger as a key catalyst. The ecosystem needs to deliver on other roadmap promises to continue the rally.”
He adds: “ETH has shown relative strength against Bitcoin (BTC) over the past 2-3 weeks, sparking hopes among ETH maximalists of an imminent ‘turn’. The term “flipping”, coined in 2017, points to the likely moment when the market value of ETH surpasses BTC, making it the largest cryptocurrency. It is noteworthy that the ETH/BTC ratio needs to cross 0.15 for a reversal to occur (~120 percent growth from today’s rate). Given that BTC tends to outperform ETH towards the end of the year, we expect BTC to regain strength into Q4 2022. Using a sports analogy, ETH and BTC are like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both have their own fan base and such rivalry, as a whole, is good for the crypto ecosystem.”
