{"id":1647957,"date":"2022-09-20T01:51:38","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T05:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647957"},"modified":"2022-09-20T01:52:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T05:52:15","slug":"cryptoverse-after-merge-ether-heads-for-a-20-billion-shanghai-splurge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cryptoverse-after-merge-ether-heads-for-a-20-billion-shanghai-splurge\/","title":{"rendered":"Cryptoverse: After Merge, ether heads for a $20 billion Shanghai splurge"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcryptoverse-after-merge-ether-heads-for-a-20-billion-shanghai-splurge%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647957&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>By Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal<\/p>\n<p>(Reuters) \u2013     The Merge came, saw and conquered. Not that you\u2019d guess from crypto prices.<\/p>\n<p>The Ethereum blockchain\u2019s mega-upgrade finally went live on Sept. 15, moving it to a less energy-intensive \u201cproof of stake\u201d (PoS) system with hardly a hiccup.<\/p>\n<p>Even though anticipation of the event had seen ether rise about 85% from its June doldrums, it has since sunk 19%, hit along with bitcoin and other risky assets by investor angst over inflation and central-bank policy.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, many market players are bullish about the long-term prospects of Ethereum and its native cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreviously, we have talked to sovereign wealth funds and central banks to help build their digital asset allocations\u2026 but direct investment has been voted down due to energy concerns,\u201d said Markus Thielen, chief investment officer at\u00a0asset manager IDEG Limited. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Ethereum moving to PoS, this clearly solves this last pillar of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some crypto investors are now turning their attention to the next event that could shake up prices. <\/p>\n<p>The next significant upgrade for Ethereum is the \u201cShanghai\u201d, expected by market participants in around six months\u2019 time, which is aimed at reducing its high transaction costs. <\/p>\n<p>It would allow validators, who have deposited ether tokens on the blockchain in exchange for a yield, to withdraw their staked coins, to hold or sell.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot at stake: over $20 billion of ether deposits are currently locked up, according to data provider Glassnode. <\/p>\n<p>The staked ether crypto coin \u2013 viewed as a bet on Ethereum\u2019s long-term success as it cannot be redeemed until Shanghai happens \u2013 is trading at nearly parity with ether at 0.989 ether, according to CoinMarketCap data, indicating confidence in future upgrades. <\/p>\n<p>The coin had dropped as low as 0.92 in June.<\/p>\n<p>PURGE AND SPLURGE<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Shanghai, a slew of other upgrades are planned for Ethereum, which co-founder Vitalik Buterin has nicknamed \u201cthe surge\u201d, \u201cverge\u201d, \u201cpurge\u201d and \u201csplurge\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>The primary focus of future upgrades is likely to be on the blockchain\u2019s ability to process more transactions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the Merge was delayed for several years, investors, traders, and end-users have a great deal of trepidation around when Ethereum will meaningfully scale,\u201d said Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at blockchain-focused bank Galaxy Digital. <\/p>\n<p>Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at EY, said: \u201cEthereum\u2019s future needs to, and will, scale to hundreds of millions of transactions a day.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p>ETHEREUM KILLERS <\/p>\n<p>The Merge\u2019s primary goal was to reduce Ethereum\u2019s energy usage as cryptocurrencies come under fire for their massive carbon footprint. The blockchain\u2019s energy consumption was cut by an estimated 99.95%, the developers claim, which could tempt powerful institutional investors, formerly constrained by environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. <\/p>\n<p>The Merge and future upgrades also dent the investment appeal of so-called \u201cEthereum killer\u201d blockchains like Solana and Polkadot, said Adam Struck, CEO of venture capital firm Struck Crypto. <\/p>\n<p>However, institutional investors aren\u2019t jumping in just yet, as a fearsome macro environment chills the waters of risk appetite. <\/p>\n<p>Longer-term, though, the switch to PoS is expected to decrease the rate at which ether tokens are issued \u2013 potentially by up to 90% \u2013 which should drive up prices. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, annual yields of 4.1% for staking ether tokens to validate transactions could prove tempting for investors. <\/p>\n<p>However, while the proof-of-stake method allows for these lucrative yields, many crypto purists point out that it moves Ethereum away from a purely decentralized model as the biggest validators could exercise greater influence over the blockchain. <\/p>\n<p>For the time being, however, the Ethereum world might be advised to enjoy the Merge moment. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere may be volatility in the days to come,\u201d said analysts at Kaiko Research. \u201cBut for now the community can take a well-earned victory lap.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p> (Reporting by Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pravin Char)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/cryptoverse-after-merge-ether\/file-photo-souvenir-tokens-representing-cryptocurrency-networks-bitcoin-ethereum-dogecoin-3\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8J069-BASEIMAGE.jpg\" alt=\"tagreuters.com2022binary_LYNXMPEI8J069-BASEIMAGE\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal (Reuters) \u2013 The Merge came, saw and conquered. Not that you\u2019d guess from crypto prices. The Ethereum blockchain\u2019s mega-upgrade finally went live on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":1889059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/cryptoverse-after-merge-ether\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1889059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}