Loopring has risen 12.52% at the time of writing currently trading at $0.425 as Bitcoin hovers over the $22k mark and Ethereum nudges $1,500 ($1,478). For ETH it sure is a long way off from it’s all-time high of $4,800. Loopring’s all-time high of $3.85 also makes little celebration of its current low price.
Some analysts believe the current rise in Ethereum’s price is that the ETH 2.0 Merge ‘could’ occur on September 19 as reported on Twitter. However the community director was very quick to state that “timeline isn’t final”. It’s the first time that ETH has broken $1,400 since June 13. The entire crypto market does seem to have more positive attention today.
Ether has been hit particularly hard by the recession fears that have gripped the global economy. Since the new year dawned, it’s lost 62% of its value — worse than the 52% cut bitcoin has endured. Since ether forms the basis of the nonfungible token market, NFT values have plummeted with it.At the time of writing, ether’s value is up 26% compared to five days ago. The hike is being attributed to news that the Ethereum Merge, which will see the blockchain become nearly carbon neutral, is tentatively scheduled to be executed on Sept. 19. That date was penciled in during a recent conference call among ethereum developers, though it was noted that the date is subject to change.
The Ethereum Merge will see the blockchain transition from its current proof-of-work system to proof of stake. What does that crypto mumbo-jumbo mean? The short story is that the solving of cryptographic puzzles, which is the part that guzzles electricity, will no longer be part of the blockchain mining process. As a result, it’s estimated that ethereum will see its carbon footprint drop by 99.65%.
Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake has been in the works since before the blockchain was even created, and has been delayed many times. That developers are confident enough to for the first time lock in a specific date — Sept. 19 — rather than wider time periods like “sometime in 2022” has got investors excited.
