Ether Hits More Than One Month High on Upcoming Protocol Update

Ether hit a more than one month peak today as investors became optimistic about Ethereum’s planned significant update, which would slash the blockchain’s environmental consequences and slash transactions costs. ETH/USD was changing hands at $3,135 while preparing this report, reflecting a gain of 2.6% in the last 24 hours.

The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit that promotes blockchain technology, stated that the “Merge,” an update that would convert Ethereum from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), will be finished in 2Q22, with the final test completed live past week.

Blockchains use both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus processes to validate n fresh trades. The first employs mining, which necessitates a significant level of computing capabilities, whereas the latter relies on what is being referred as validators to give, or “stake,” their coins. Bitcoin and Ethereum are both proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains at the moment.

In a telephone conversation, Eliézer Ndinga, chief of research at cryptocurrency asset management firm 21Shares, described Ethereum’s update as “extremely intriguing” since “a large number of investors have gone through the vision. It’s made huge strides,” Ndinga remarked, “and it’s ultimately edging closer to its eventual success by departing from proof of work PoW).”

According to Ndinga, the change might help decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are mostly hosted on Ethereum.