Ethereum Merge Puts Spotlight On Potential Centralization Issues

The Ethereum Merge has been successfully completed and the network has been operating on a proof of stake mechanism for about a week now. The success of the upgrade has been lauded by many in the community who have praised the resourcefulness and the innovation of the Ethereum developers.

Timeline of Ethereum

The Ethereum Merge has not just brought about a change in the blockchain network architecture but also trading behavior. The much anticipated Merge event sparked a debate on reliability of proof of stake in comparison with proof of work consensus.

Ethereum price analysis is bearish today as we have seen a slight pullback to $1,350, where a lower local high is currently set. Therefore, ETH/USD is ready to continue even lower and spike below $1,300 previous major support.

On September 20, CryptoSlate published an article on the upcoming Shanghai upgrade, stating Ethereum withdrawals would not likely be activated. The post Developer consensus supports Ethereum withdrawals in upcoming Shanghai upgrade appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Ethereum (ETH), dubbed as the ‘leader of all altcoins' has long carried the burden and pressure of supplanting Bitcoin (BTC) as the king of all cryptocurrencies. To this date, it hasn't succeeded or has come close into completing that mission.

On September 15, the Ethereum network successfully completed its transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), a change that is expected to increase sustainability and reduce energy usage by 99.95%. However, contrary to popular expectations, the merger didn't have any effect on the Ethereum price; instead, the price plunged after the merger.

The ethereum (ETH) options market shows continued strong appetite for bullish bets on ETH among traders, despite falling spot prices. The question now is if this is a sign that smart money is positioning for a future rally, and if now is a good time to start dollar-cost averaging (DCA) into ETH.

The Merge has skewed demand-supply dynamics in favor of the bulls. But, the strengthening correlation with Nasdaq means big gains may remain elusive in case of broad based risk aversion.

Ethereum's volatility has been quite extreme and Ether's price increased steadily starting in the second month of the year. ETH rapidly increased beyond $1,800 prior to the Merge. The excitement surrounding Ethereum's switch from PoW to PoS may have helped the rise to some extent.

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin always seems to be looking a step into the future – or three. While layer 2 (L2) is currently still developing, Buterin contributed to the layer 3 (L3) discussion, arguing that these could serve a different purpose(s), leaving scalability to L2s.

Asset manager 21Shares has launched two new product lines aimed specifically at the bear market to give investors more options during the downturn. The post 21Shares launches Ethereum exchange-traded product tailored to the bear market: Exclusive appeared first on The Block.