Well, it’s happened. Ethereum has Merged. And by all reports, it’s been a code-tastic success. An “audacious feat of techincal innovation” pulled off. High fives all round! (Checks portfolio… yep, ETH is double-digits down.)
Well, can’t say you weren’t warned about some price volatility, right? A serious amount of dust will likely need to settle on all this Merge excitement, though, before the market can really tell what longer-term effects the Ethereum upgrade may have.
Popular pseudonymous crypto analyst Rekt Capital seems to have an idea:
In the meantime, nervy thoughts will probably very soon shift back to a bloke called Jerome “The Undertaker” Powell. The Fed’s next rate-hike announcement is a comin’ – next week.
‘The rising tide can lift all boats’
After speaking with us yesterday during the Merge Day build-up, CEO of Aussie crypto exchange BTC Markets Caroline Bowler had this to add, now The Merge merged:
“The successful Ethereum merge is an audacious feat of technical innovation. Years in the planning, it demonstrates the robustness not just of the Ethereum network but also the viability of blockchain technology. Vitalik Buterin was clear, this is another step forward for the network, but not the final destination.
“At 55% complete, there are more technical challenges ahead as it tackles the questions of sharding, increasing speed and reducing transaction costs. However, for today, this event can indicate to investors the technical capabilities and brain power behind the Ethereum network.”
Bowler also spoke a bit further about the price activity, pointing again to the fact that big crypto events such as these can often see cooler, or “calmer markets” on the other side.
But… “over time, the rising tide can lift all boats,” noted the crypto exchange boss. “Increased awareness of Ethereum capabilities and blockchain-based projects is a good thing. The attention brings fresh energy and greater adoption… Is Ethereum as well known as Bitcoin? Not yet perhaps but the recognition and celebration of this technical feat will advance this situation without a doubt.”
Let’s take a look at some daily price action…
Top 10 overview
With the overall crypto market cap at US$1 trillion and down about 3.8% since yesterday, here’s the current state of play among top 10 tokens – according to CoinGecko.
The overall crypto market is currently hanging on, by a fraying thread, to the US$1 trillion mark. It looks about to snap any second, tbh, as it’s “down, down, prices are down” right across the crypto big guns today. With, you guessed it – everyone’s favourite new Proof-of-Stake coin, Ethereum, leading the disappointment.
A 10% dump from this time yesterday. We reckon it’s probably fair to say The Merge news was indeed sold. And the unsurprised, “told-you-so bears” are all currently setting up another picnic in the woods.
Roman will definitely see fellow gloom-peddling analytical mind Justin Bennett down in the woods. Not saying they’re wrong, mind. They’re sobering and realistic, and trying to do their followers a solid, sure. But they’re probably not much fun to listen to down the pub right now.
However, if you’re a long-term believer in Ethereum, maybe you’re likely at least HODLing on to all the bigger-picture positivity around this historically “top three” crypto event. Not suggesting you HODL on blindly, through thick and thin, though – that’s completely up to you and your own risk-management strategy.
As for Bitcoin and its current, worrisome move back below the US$19,800 support level, here’s Rekt Capital again, bringing the Tony Robbins-like pep talks…
Uppers and downers: 11–100
Sweeping a market-cap range of about US$7.7 billion to about US$409 million in the rest of the top 100, let’s find some of the biggest 24-hour gainers and losers at press time. (Stats accurate at time of publishing, based on CoinGecko.com data.)
DAILY PUMPERS
• Cosmos Hub (ATOM), (market cap: US$4.39 billion) +10%
• Evmos (EVMOS), (mc: US$905 million) +5%
• Quant (QNT), (mc: US$1.36 billion) +4%
• Osmosis (OSMO), (mc: US$598 million) +3%
• DeFiChain (DFI), (mc: US$564 million) +3%
DAILY SLUMPERS
• Rocket pool (RPL), (market cap: US$475 million) -18%
• Ravencoin (RVN), (mc: US$645 million) -18%
• BitDAO (BIT), (mc: US$539 million) -12%
• Lido Staked Ether (STETH), (mc: US$6.2 billion) -11%
• Ethereum Classic (ETC), (mc: US$4.86 billion) -9%
Around the blocks
A selection of randomness and pertinence that stuck with us on our morning moves through the Crypto Twitterverse…
First up, just a reminder here from Lark “Just a Dude on the Internet” Davis about the ETHW token, which is an Ethereum PoW-based forked coin.
A word of caution on this. If you think there’s some potential advantage to be found here in a quick claim and dump of forked ETH and forked ERC-20 tokens, it may be prudent to let the dust settle first. The most excellent account @OlimpioCrypto details how he’s been playing it:
And here’s a slightly older Olimpio post about how to go about claiming any ETH-related forked coins, but with a strong disclaimer that it simply may not be worth it. And that’s due to some risk of exposure to losing your ETH through either following the wrong procedures, or falling into fraudster traps.
Finally, like “Ye” above, this French bulldog (below) has absolutely very little to do with crypto, Bitcoin, The Merge, yada yada. But JAYSIS H… just look at those mad skillz.