Ethereum Merge Two Weeks Away

The so-called Ethereum Merge is now a little less than two weeks away. Here’s what to know about it at a glance, via our recent research newsletter update:

Speaking of headlines - seeing more press for ETHEREUM's upcoming transition from a primarily proof of work system, to a primarily proof of stake system. They are calling it the Ethereum Merge.

You won't need to move your balance onto a different wallet or anything like that ahead of the implementation, according to the primary ETH development web site.

But this software upgrade for the network will mean the end of proof of work mining rewards for ETH, and the beginning of an ambitious global proof of stake system - the largest switchover ever attempted from a proof of work to proof of stake validation system.

According to Coincap data as of writing this, ETH's total market capitalization (the value of all ETH in existence/in circulation) is about US $192,150,000,000.

That's a little less than 200 billion dollars.

And some enthusiastic industry watchers believe the transition or "merge" over to the proof of stake system could, in effect, drastically lower the amount of new ETH created over time - making it more rare.

The upgrade is expected to occur in about two weeks' time.

According to some, the transition from proof of work to proof of stake will decrease Ethereum’s energy expenditure by 99.9% or more — a formidable arrow in the quiver of crypto advocates pushing back against environmental concerns about the rising prevalence of mining.

As of this posting, one ETH trades for about US $1,577 on major crypto exchanges; first place crypto Bitcoin (BTC) dipping below $19,000 per coin earlier Tuesday, to about $18,976.

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