- Ether soared by as much as 9% on optimism over what is being touted as the final test of the network before the much-anticipated software upgrade.
- But there’s reason that many traders are buying the rumor and selling the news with a countless number of things that could go wrong.
For the longest time, Ether has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride, but ahead of a major software upgrade for the pioneering smart contract blockchain, the price of Ether has led a rebound in cryptocurrencies, leaving Bitcoin in its wake.
Ether soared by as much as 9% on optimism over what is being touted as the final test of the network before the much-anticipated software upgrade and is up about 67% from its recent bottom in June, outperforming Bitcoin, which has rebounded around 15%.
The Goerli test for Ethereum, named after a train station in Berlin, has been successful, with the test network merging with the Proof-of-Stake test network, a transition that will mimic on a smaller scale a similar move for the main Ethereum blockchain.
Ethereum is attempting to do something no other blockchain, especially not one with so many services built atop of it, has ever attempted, move from the more energy-intensive Proof-of-Work method of securing the blockchain to Proof-of-Stake.
With the Goerli test successfully concluded, the next step will be to conduct the Merge, which is widely expected to take place in September.
But there’s reason that many traders are buying the rumor and selling the news with a countless number of things that could go wrong.
The last time that Ethereum attempted to not recognize the proceeds of the DAO hack in 2016, it led to an ideological split in the development community and the emergence of a hard fork, which became Ethereum Classic, a legacy of that era that lives on today.
Ether miners who have invested millions into securing the Ethereum blockchain could soon see their equipment made redundant.
Given that Ethereum is the most important commercial highway in cryptocurrency, the stakes are extremely high and the chance of any disruption could cost billions and impact billions of users.
With over 3,400 decentralized apps built atop Ethereum, it will be a nail-biting finish.
