ETH Surges on Successful Goerli Testnet “Merge”, Here’s What Happens Next

Key Points 

• Ethereum developers just successfully implemented the “Merge” to PoS on the public Goerli testnet. 
• The door is now open for the Ethereum Mainnet merge to PoS on 19 September 
• ETH surged as a result, with bulls eyeing a test of $2,000.  

Successful Goerli Merge Opens Door to Mainnet Merge 

Earlier on Thursday, Ethereum developers successfully implemented another trail run of the so-called “Merge” on the Goerli public testnet. At around 01:45GMT, the Goerli test, formerly a Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain became a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain as it merged with the Bellatrix beacon chain.

The successful merge opens the door to a merge of the currently PoW Ethereum mainnet with the PoS Beacon Chain on 19 September.

The Goerli testnet has been successfully merged and is now a full Proof of Stake chain.

Next up is (finally) the Ethereum mainnet!!

The Merge is coming 🐼

— sassal.eth 🦇🔊🐼 (@sassal0x) August 11, 2022

The successful Goerli testnet merge comes on the heels of largely successful merges of two other major public Ethereum testnets in the past two months (Ropsten and Sepolia). Ethereum developers and community members now seem confident that next month’s merge will go ahead on time and without major issues.  

Next month’s Mainnet transition to PoS from PoW will reduce the Ethereum network’s energy consumption by as much as 99.95%. Ethereum mining will soon become a thing of the past as the development team set of the so-called “difficulty bomb” that will eventually make profitable Ethereum mining impossible.  

Ethereum owners will be able to stake their ETH tokens for a steady return, as happens on other PoS networks. There are some concerns that this ability to generate yield via staking will see regulators classify Ethereum as a security. But the merge is generally being viewed as a positive, given its environmental benefits.  

Cryptocurrency mining energy consumption is a source of concern for climate-aware investors and regulators across the globe. For example, Bitcoin mining often finds itself in the firing line from US lawmakers who are worried about the network’s large carbon footprint. As crypto attracts further institutional investment in the coming years, Ethereum’s low carbon footprint could be a key differentiator to Bitcoin as the popularity of ESG investing continues to grow. 

A successful “Merge” also sets the stage for the next series of major network upgrades, called “Surge”, “Verge”, “Purge” and “Splurge”. At the recent Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin spoke about the upgrade roadmap, which will make Ethereum “a much more scalable system”.   

“By the end, Ethereum will be able to process 100,000 transactions per second,” he said. Ethereum has been criticized in the past for its scalability problems that have resulted in high network (gas) fees and congestion.   

ETH Bulls Eye $2,000 as Talk of “Flippening” Picks Up 

The success of the Goerli merge has sent ETH, the token that powers the Ethereum mainnet blockchain, surging on Thursday. ETH/USD just hit $1,900 for the first time since early June and is up over 12% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. ETH had already been trading with a strong upside bias in wake of Wednesday’s softer than expected US inflation data.  

For now, resistance in the form of the 6 June high near $1,920 is keeping a cap on the upside. But ETH bulls continue to eye a move higher towards $2,000 and a test of resistance just above this psychologically important level. Amid ongoing optimism about the positive impact of Ethereum’s upcoming merge, ETH dips back towards its 21-Day Moving Average are likely to continue to present a good buying opportunity.  

Amid further Ethereum outperformance versus Bitcoin, which is up a more modest 7.0% in the last 24 hours, chatter about the so-called “flippening” has once again picked up on social media. This refers to Ethereum’s market capitalization surpassing that of Bitcoin.  

Goerli testnet merged to PoS ✅

Ethereum Mainnet🐼 ❌

ETH to $10k ❌

ETH Flippening BTC ❌

The Ethereum Merge is near. 🎃

— EthereumJesus.eth⟠🙌🏻🦇🔊🐼 (@EthereumJesus) August 11, 2022

The “flippening” remains some way off, with Ethereum’s market cap currently around 48% of Bitcoin’s. But that marks an impressive rebound from closer to 33% as recently as mid-July.  

Back in July, Ethereum analyst and researcher Vivek Raman argued that the removal of miner sell pressure could be a key factor behind why he thinks the flippening will occur.  

Why ETH will flip BTC:

There are 900 BTC mined per day. At current prices, that’s ~$20mm to miners daily

Let’s assume miners sell 90% to cover costs. That’s ~$18mm in sell pressure *every single day*

Meaning, without ~$18mm of new daily buy pressure, BTC price goes down

(1/8)

— VivekVentures.eth 🐼 (@VivekVentures) July 23, 2022