The Ethereum Merge will happen later today, and experts say that the change, which will focus on saving energy, will have a big effect on crypto investments and adoption.
Eli Ben-Sasson, president and co-founder of StarkWare, told Asian Trade before the Merge that the Merge will be the “first step in a process that will lead to the adoption of Ethereum by a very large number of people.”
The most important thing about the Merge right now is how much energy it will save.
Related: The Ethereum blockchain will get a big update to cut down on energy use.
The Merge is expected to cut Ethereum’s energy use by 99.95% compared to its current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which uses a lot of energy in a competition to solve random math puzzles.
“The Merge is kind of like how the first solar fields came to be,” Ben-Sasson said.
“We saw that we can cut down on the damage that making electricity does to the environment. We didn’t say “problem solved.” Instead, we said, “If we can make electricity with less pollution, it’s time to work even harder to use it less.”
Ben-Sasson thinks the end result will be that blockchain-based apps will be used by the general public in many different areas of life, “just like people use smartphone apps today.”
Asher Tan, CEO of the crypto exchange Coinjar, says the Merge will change the way people talk about crypto in general. He says it’s very rare for a tech sector to “execute such a drastic reduction in their energy intensity.”
“We think that people aren’t giving the 99.95% drop in energy use after Merge the attention it deserves,” Tan said.
It makes the Ethereum network much more appealing to the public and opens the door for investors and companies who had been hesitant to invest in crypto because of its carbon footprint.
Even though people are optimistic about Ethereum’s change, there is still disagreement about whether or not the merge has already been priced into Ether (ETH).
Charmyn Ho, who is in charge of crypto insights at the crypto exchange Bybit, says that their analysts have come to the conclusion that institutional investors and market makers “don’t agree” on short-term trading around The Merge. Instead, they are more likely to buy ETH and become “hodlers.”
Most people in the “bubble” of Ethereum don’t seem to care much about whether or not the Merge will work.
Joseph Lubin, one of the people who started Ethereum, told Bloomberg yesterday that he thinks developers and users won’t have to deal with much trouble during the change. He said it will be “as smooth as if your iPhone or laptop’s operating system was updated overnight.”
Related: Uniglo (GLO) is jumping right into the Ethereum (ETH) merge, free Bitcoin (BTC) trading on Binance (BNB), and a new bull market.
Ben-Sasson of StarKware also thinks the change will go smoothly. He says, “The Ethereum Foundation has prepared so carefully for this moment that it gives me a lot of confidence.” (Noting:
“When the first block is made by proof of stake, that will be a big sign of success. But this is like finishing the launch of a rocket. “We still have a long way to go, and there will be challenges along the way.”
Lubin says he thinks this is the third most important thing to happen in the crypto space, after the creation of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
