Ethereum (ETH) has outpaced bitcoin (BTC) in the last 24 hours, following reports that a final testnet has completed the processes required to switch Ethereum to its planned proof-of-stake (PoS) system.
ETH was trading at USD 2,682 at 10:40 UTC on Wednesday, up 6% in the previous 24 hours. At the same moment, BTC was trading at USD 40,424, up over 5% from the previous day. However, in a week and a month, BTC surpasses ETH, as bitcoin fell less than the second-largest crypto assets by market value. In either scenario, ETH is now up about 50% in a year, while BTC is down 28%.
The market changes came after Ethereum developer Tim Beiko said on Tuesday that Kiln – the final testnet for integrating the current version of Ethereum with its new PoS system – has completed the process required to accomplish “the Merge.”
“The Merge” is the process of combining Ethereum’s current proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain with the beacon chain proof-of-stake system. However, Beiko later confessed that not everything went as planned during the test, stating on Twitter that “it appears there is a customer that isn’t constantly producing blocks.”
“The network is stable, with >2/3rd of validators correctly finalizing. We’re looking into the issue,” the developer added.
4 hours later, another Ethereum developer, Marius Van Der Wijden, claimed that he had worked out what the problem was, stating that the team is looking into “a handful of minor bugs.”
Bullish on ETH Price
Santiment, an on-chain analytics tool, published on Wednesday on the Ethereum network’s value, noting that while the network’s utility has stayed constant, prices have plummeted by 35% in the last 4 months. “With the amount of unique addresses interacting on the Ethereum network staying flat, there is a bullish divergence between [daily active addresses – DAA] and price,” Santiment said.
Yesterday, ETH-focused blockchain developer ConsenSys announced that its Metamask wallet now has over 30 million monthly active users (MAUs), a 42% increase in only 4 months. According to the business, “a global user base relies on MetaMask to mint and collect NFTs, join DAOs, and participate in DeFi protocols.”
As previously reported, ConsenSys, which is also involved in Ethereum’s merger, recently raised USD 450 million from investors in a Series D fundraising round. ConsenSys’ valuation has risen to more than USD 7 billion as a result of the investment round, more than doubling since its Series C round in November 2021.
According to ConsenSys founder and CEO Joe Lubin, who is also an Ethereum co-creator, the round included both fiat and digital assets, with all contributions converted to ETH. “Next round will be our ‘Series ETH’ where we will assist investors in getting fully crypto native to contribute ETH as a symbol of and commitment to the ongoing paradigm shift,” Lubin added.
But at the same time, he questioned the viability of other projects, notably the rapidly expanding Solana (SOL) blockchain. According to him, Solana is providing outsized rewards to users who authenticate network transactions in comparison to the revenue earned by such transactions, and it has to “find out a more viable economic model for the network.”
‘Ethereum killers’
Meanwhile, signals emerged on Wednesday that the so-called ‘Ethereum killers’ – smart contract-enabled protocols that aim to compete with Ethereum – were seeing growing investor interest as well.
SOL, Polkadot’s DOT token, and Avalanche’s AVAX have all gained roughly 5% in the last 24 hours, trailing only ETH in terms of price growth. AVAX and SOL are up 143% and 491%, respectively, in a year, while DOT is down 47%.
With high transaction fees continuing to plague Ethereum users, competing platforms compete with the dominant smart contract platform primarily by making transactions faster and cheaper for customers. ETH fees, on the other hand, have reduced dramatically this year.
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DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.
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