The upcoming Merge has according to CoinShares caused a significant influx of institutional capital into Ethereum. For the seventh week in a row, Ethereum institutional investment products were allowed to write green numbers. Last week it was a plus of 16.3 million, which is the total for the past seven weeks. comes to $159 million.
Clarity breeds confidence
CoinShares head of research James Butterfill shared on Aug. 8 that the positive sentiment surrounding Ethereum is mainly based on the “greater degree of clarity” surrounding the Merge. The tentative date for the most significant update to Ethereum since the blockchain’s inception is September 19. Which does not mean that we will necessarily see the Merge on September 19th.
The Merge marks Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. The new Proof-of-Stake mechanism should make Ethereum safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. This week the final Testmerge on the Goerli test network should take place and after that it is time for the update of the mainnet.
“Buy the rumour, sell the news”
Blockchain analytics firm Glassnode believes the Merge will become a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event. “Derivatives traders are currently specifically betting their money on and around the September 19th,” Glassnode said. This seems to suggest that many people are currently speculating on the Merge and what exactly that will do to the price. It is striking that the current price of Ethereum is higher than the prices on the futures markets.
According to Glassnode, that means traders expect the price to fall after the Merge. Vitalik Buterin disagrees, because in a recent interview The brain behind Ethereum indicated that the Merge has not yet been priced in. Which means he feels that Etheruem will continue to perform well after the Merge.