Ethereum Merge

Ethereum transitioned to proof of stake shortly after the network reached “terminal total difficulty” early Thursday.

[some](https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/) have analogized to changing the engine of a rocket ship mid-flight. The transition is anticipated to be faster, more scalable, and Up until the moment of the merge, ETH was generated by “mining,” an energy-intensive process by which individuals directed huge amounts of computer power at difficult-to-solve puzzles.

Ethereum, the most popular cryptocurrency platform, completed its much-anticipated switch to a more energy-efficient infrastructure.

That new chain, the Beacon Chain, was unveiled in December. A flaw in the Merge could imperil the broader crypto industry, upending start-ups and sending the market into a tailspin. The system is widely known as “mining” because the computers earn payments in cryptocurrency as rewards for the verification service. The process of shifting Ethereum to proof of stake required years of intense study and debate. The upgrade is expected to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption and set the stage for future improvements that will make the platform easier and cheaper to use. It was a rare moment of joy in a grim year for crypto that saw a devastating market crash drain nearly $1 trillion from the industry, forcing some prominent crypto companies into bankruptcy.

The historic upgrade casts aside the miners who had previously driven the blockchain, with promises of massive environmental benefits.

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of [Digital Currency Group](https://dcg.co/), which invests in [cryptocurrencies](https://dcg.co/#digital-assets-portfolio) and blockchain [startups](https://dcg.co/portfolio/). “Now the market is roughly 70/30 in favor of this being a positive event for ETH.” [replaced by new ones](https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/04/20/is-ethereum-staking-pool-lidos-growth-an-omen-of-centralization/). In general, it is impossible to predict with certainty how the markets will react to a successful Merge. In crypto markets, the Merge had become an object of speculation since at least mid-July, with traders initially viewing the event as a catalyst for a steep rally in the price of ETH. After around 15 long minutes, the Merge officially [finalized](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/09/14/monitoring-the-merge-what-a-successful-ethereum-upgrade-will-look-like/), meaning it could be declared a success. “Proof-of-work is a mechanism by which you take physical resources and you convert them into security for the network. Edgington pointed to the environmental impact of the Merge upgrade as the benefit he is personally the most excited about. “I like to think of it as kind of like the switch from gasoline to electric.” “I mean, it's kind of hard to defend ‘stickers for grownups’ that emit, by some estimates, a megaton of [carbon dioxide] a week.” From an energy costs perspective, it's like Finland suddenly shut off its power grid, according to [one estimate](https://digiconomist.net/ethereum-energy-consumption). “The metaphor that I use is this idea of switching out an engine from a running car,” said Justin Drake, a researcher at the non-profit Ethereum Foundation who spoke to CoinDesk before the Merge happened.

Ethereum is launching its much awaited software upgrade. Here are the things you should know about Merge.

PoS system, alternatively, has the ability to limit the number of miners which in turn lessens the power consumption resulting in a reduction of power consumed. The primary reason for this was the final transition to a Proof of Stake consensus model, which drastically reduces the energy consumption by 99.95%, as compared to just prior to the transition. Considering the complexity of such a transition, it is going to take a lot of time. Used by the likes of Bitcoin, PoW allows miners to validate crypto transactions by lending computer power which leads to massive energy usage. 'Forking' is inevitable when it comes to the real use case of The Merge. The new software upgrade of Ethereum called 'Merge' is set to go live.

The upgrade, known in the industry as the “Merge”, which changes how new transactions are verified on the Ethereum blockchain, completed early Thursday, co- ...

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The blockchain network completed the crypto world's biggest and most ambitious software upgrade to date, according to its co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a ...

But the existence of several versions of Ether — each running on a different chain — could create confusion and give rise to attacks and scams. Whether the forked chains can stay viable in the long run remains to be seen. [paused](https://blog.coinbase.com/the-ethereum-merge-is-coming-heres-what-you-need-to-know-5f3b3045aab2) Ethereum-related withdrawals and deposits around the time of the software upgrade. Overall, the upgrade has been under consideration for over seven years. Both tokens have struggled since hitting record highs in November, with Ether down more than 50% this year. Called the Merge, it replaced power-hungry computers that were used to order transactions on the network with a more energy-efficient setup using piles of the network’s native token, Ether, placed in special, so-called staking wallets.

Ethereum, the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency, has completed a massive software upgrade that its backers claim will slash its carbon footprint.

The merger moves ethereum to a mechanism called “proof-of-stake,” which is much more energy efficient. The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, bitcoin, was down almost 1%, trading at $20,174, according to CoinDesk. blockchain called the Beacon Chain,” it added.

Software for the ethereum blockchain has been overhauled, drastically reducing its energy usage, its inventor and co-founder said.

This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. To its proponents, the upgrade represents a major advantage as ethereum seeks to surpass rival blockchain bitcoin. Happy merge all.

Ethereum's core developers already have their eyes set on the network's next upgrade, Shanghai. What it will consist of, however, is up for debate.

[rolling collections of transactions into a unit](https://decrypt.co/resources/what-are-ethereum-rollups-scaling-solution-cut-transaction-costs) that is presented to the Ethereum blockchain as a single transaction. Van Der Wijden is confident though that the upgrade will occur within the next year. “Some of the more research-focused people don't really consider that all of this has to be implemented and tested,” said Van Der Wijden. There have been no updates made to the EVM in over two years, in part because incorporating those improvements into the merge would have created a massive headache for developers. Staking ETH will allow these entities to generate and collect new ETH as a reward for proving the computing power necessary to validate transactions and secure the network. And once again, the decision will have multi-billion dollar implications.

Ross Sinclair speaks to Gaurav Nair about the coming Ethereum merge, its economic implications and the likelihood of success.

And so one approach that has been suggested is for regulators to regulate the on and off ramps. However, what it appears to be is that it’s a sympathiser that is testing the ability now to sell these NFTs to other sympathisers and hence raise money. So typically for running a blockchain, the miner is spending money on capital and then they’re spending money on energy and they’re doing the work of running the chain. And if we also consider the case of North Korea, they don’t necessarily want another country to have nuclear weapons and so they don’t want to then fund North Korea to be able to do that. Now, most terrorist funding and funding of a pariah states actually happens in cash because cash is the most untraceable thing. Compared to the validator, they don’t have as much of a need to sell because they don’t have as heavy a cost structure. It is, in fact, one of the metrics that that you can measure in a blockchain, which is the difficulty of mining the chain and that the difficulty keeps moving. And the Ethereum chain will continue using the proof of stake system that the Beacon Chain is using. And if you consider the price of any other commodity to be the interaction between demand and supply, when supply drops, that should result in the price increasing. So what this means is there is less new supply of Etherium that’s going to be coming on the market. So when Ethereum moves over to proof of stake, it becomes much, much cheaper to run the chain. What’s going to happen is the existing Etherium chain and the Beacon chain are going to merge into one and then mining is going to get turned off.

While Ethereum's merge was largely considered a success, the event so far failed to produce any meaningful bullish moves for the asset.

[LIDO](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/lido-dao/), the native token of the liquid staking platform Lido Finance, which is up 7% in the past 24 hours. [Ethereum Classic](https://decrypt.co/resources/what-is-ethereum-classic-explained-guide-cryptocurrency) (ETC) is among those leading the charge as the PoW-based coin, which was created in 2016 as a hard fork of Ethereum following the controversial [The DAO incident](https://decrypt.co/93547/crypto-ceo-denies-11-billion-ethereum-dao-hack), is up 3.8% over the past day, currently trading at $38.61. [Ethereum](/resources/what-is-ethereum-quickly-explained-four-minute-guide) (ETH) continues its sideways trading pattern [observed](https://decrypt.co/109683/ethereum-price-flat-as-merge-event-is-hours-away) on Wednesday in the run-up to the network’s switch to [proof-of-stake](/?post_type=post&p=5733) (PoS), changing hands at $1,591 at the time of this writing, or down 0.90% over the past 24 hours, per [CoinMarketCap](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/).

The blockchain network completed the crypto world's biggest and most ambitious software upgrade to date, according to its co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a ...

In the Merge, Beacon was merged with the main Ethereum network, using miners, and made Beacon Ethereum’s way of testing the ordering of network transactions. In late 2020, they debuted Beacon Chain, a parallel network that was testing the ordering transactions via staked coins, or a system called proof of stake. Whether the forked chains can stay viable in the long run remains to be seen. Crypto lender Aave had suspended Ether borrowing in advance of the Merge. Staked Ether will generate a return, expected to be around 5.2% after the Merge, according to tracker Staking Rewards. But the existence of several versions of Ether — each running on a different chain — could create confusion and give rise to attacks and scams.

Two major news events could rock the crypto market this month. Here's what experts think, and why it matters for crypto investors.

[ethereum](https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/price/ethereum-eth/) [merge](https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/ethereum-merge-price-this-week/) took place on Thursday, completing one of the largest events in crypto to date. One thing’s for sure: If the last couple years have taught us anything, it’s that crypto prices are highly volatile and difficult to predict. “We believe bitcoin should ultimately be used as a proxy for direction in the broader crypto market,” Kruger said. The market is particularly volatile right now, as inflation numbers send crypto and stock prices tumbling ahead of another likely rate increase next week at the Fed meeting. [saw similar tumbling](https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/latest-stock-market-news/) following the CPI release, and the crypto market has increasingly tracked the stock market in recent months. “Given how things have been correlating, and considering this latest inflation data, we expect more downside pressure in crypto as investors are forced to contend with the reality of higher for longer monetary policy that strains growth prospects and weighs on sentiment. The Fed is essentially attempting to cool down the economy in order to rein in rising prices. “There’s no doubt the CPI report has triggered a fallout in risk assets and crypto markets by extension,” said Joel Kruger, Market Strategist at LMAX Group, a financial technology firm headquartered in London that operates foreign currency and crypto exchanges. The ethereum merge has been highly anticipated in the crypto community, and it was finally completed in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. The change could cut ethereum’s electricity expenditure by an estimated 99.95%, [according to the Ethereum Foundation](https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/#main-content). Among other concerns, unforeseen bugs in the blockchain could cause outages, which could lead to significant price drops. [Bitcoin’s](https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/price/bitcoin-btc/) prices have gyrated similarly.

Miners shutting shop, centralisation concerns, downside risks… A lot is on the line for Ethereum.

the day ETH overtakes BTC’s market cap), but who knows, maybe The Surge will. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. The Merge was the first in a series of rhyming upgrades, with more planned for the years ahead, including The Surge, The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge. We can get into the technicalities another time, but the main takeaway is that The Surge with usher in a new era of significantly faster and cheaper Ethereum transactions. Happy merge all. “The reality right now, is that the Merge has been overshadowed by developments in global markets, with crypto still trading more on risk sentiment and the outlook for Fed policy than anything else.”

The upgrade, known as the Merge, will slash the chain's carbon emissions by more than 99% and, just as importantly, shows that a rag-tag band of crypto ...

[Mainnet](https://mainnet.events/agenda) starts this week in Manhattan. The event has already emerged as New York’s pre-eminent crypto conference, and organizers have just added a trio of A-list speakers: [Coinbase](https://fortune.com/company/coinbase) CEO Brian Armstrong; Binance CEO CZ; and the founding genius of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. A long-time crypto skeptic (Smith describes “the vast majority of web3 uses [as] a form of unregulated financialization), he makes the case that instability in places like Russia and China is likely to create waves of refugees looking to flee with their assets. The “wen” reflects the crypto world’s penchant for goofy phonetics, and is most commonly found in the phrase “wen moon?” that asks when prices will soar. "Crypto-facilitated capital flight from China and Russia would likely strengthen the dominance of the dollar, and/or of the currencies of other rich countries allied with the U.S. [noted](https://twitter.com/CamiRusso/status/1570439681107443716), the devs changed the proverbial jet engine mid-flight and did it without a hitch. He suggests dollar-backed stablecoins will be most popular but that, in time, we could see migrants snapping up “stablecoins backed by real estate.” But for this week at least, it is enough for the Ethereum community to take a well-deserved victory lap. Let’s hope the next wave of Ethereum innovation is based around building products that will be truly useful to ordinary people and show them why blockchain is such a great technology in the first place. The top priority should be the exorbitant gas fees that make legacy payment and computer networks look cheap in comparison—Ethereum is never going to catch on if the first time someone tries it, the network dings them for $50 or more in fees. The reaction of the market was decidedly more muted, however, as the price of Ethereum slumped as much as 7% after the merge. The upgrade, known as the Merge, will slash the chain’s carbon emissions by more than 99% and, just as importantly, shows that a rag-tag band of crypto developers can get shit done.

High-stakes revamp of Ethereum network comes with security, concentration and ether price risks, investors and analysts say.

After Lido, Coinbase, Kraken and Binance together control about 30% of the total staked ether tokens, crypto research firm Nansen wrote in a recent report. 8.Discount of locked-up ether derivativesSource: KaikoNote: A value under 1 means that ether derivatives on each platform are trading at a discount to the cryptocurrency ether. Lido is the largest staker, accounting for 31% of the 13.4 million ether locked up in the proof-of-stake Ethereum blockchain. The new blockchain, called “Beacon Chain,” will work on a proof-of-stake model, by which validators put their crypto holdings on the line to verify transactions. “People are nervous going into the Merge,” said Ilan Solot, a partner at crypto hedge-fund manager Tagus Capital LLP. 9, four companies controlled about 60% of all the staked ether tokens. Bugs in the code and other network vulnerabilities could remain undiscovered until the rollout. So-called funding rates for ether perpetual futures, a kind of futures contract that doesn’t have an expiry date, have been negative for more than a month, meaning that traders are paying a premium for pessimistic bets. This will affect the value, the issuance and potentially the security as the very means for validating transaction changes. And it seems the sentiment for many investors is that the value will drop further as more short positions are placed against the cryptocurrency. About $33.5 billion worth of ether is currently deposited in 554 decentralized-finance applications alone, according to data provider DeFi Llama. Many investors are selling off their Ethereum shares, dropping the value of the cryptocurrency by a number of percentage points today.

“Graphics processing units (GPU) mining is dead less than 24 hours after the Merge,” tweeted Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer at bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF).

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of [Digital Currency Group](https://dcg.co/), which invests in [cryptocurrencies](https://dcg.co/#digital-assets-portfolio) and blockchain [startups](https://dcg.co/portfolio/). [strict set of editorial policies](/ethics/). Alongside a rising hashrate, however, is rising difficulty, meaning miners are less likely to successfully mine a block and reap the block reward. [what households in the U.S. However, the software update – dubbed the Merge – also meant that miners were no longer needed to secure the network, and so rig operators moved their machines to other PoW blockchains. [proof-of-stake](https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2020/12/30/what-is-proof-of-stake/) from [proof-of-work](https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2020/12/16/what-is-proof-of-work/) in order to boost efficiency and lower energy consumption.

Until now, both ethereum and bitcoin were running on proof-of-work, which requires high-powered computers to verify transactions and “mine” new coins across a ...

[Sign up](https://www.cnn.com/specials/nightcap?source=article) and you'll get all of this, plus some other funny stuff we liked on the internet, in your inbox every night. The unions have agreed not to strike while votes are being tallied, which means the negotiators have bought themselves a couple of weeks. Even though it's technically possible for bitcoin to alter its infrastructure, as ethereum just demonstrated, "bitcoiners view proof-of-work as a superior way of securing the network." In short, the merge would put the core infrastructure of ethereum on a more environmentally sustainable path, reducing its carbon footprint by 99%, according to the nonprofit behind the network. The workers who operate America's freight trains were at their breaking point, often working 14 days in a row, with no sick days (paid or unpaid) and constant fear of termination if they miss work for medical reasons. Similarly, workers at Kellogg continued to strike in December after negotiators thought they'd reached a settlement. (OK, most nights — we believe in a four-day work week around here.) Here's the deal: It's been a rough year for cryptocurrencies and their legions of fans. Per Biden's statement: "These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions, and peace of mind around their health care costs — all hard-earned." - (Ugh, I realize that still might sound like sci-fi, but the longer explanation would seriously put everyone to sleep. - But medical time off won't be paid. Bitcoin, by far the largest token, has fallen roughly 70% from its high nearly a year ago.

The shift to proof-of-stake has analysts exploring its impact on the blockchain's vaunted decentralization.

Some critics have described the merge as a [move toward centralization](https://twitter.com/ClassicPharaohs/status/1570194214256005126). The fact that Bitcoin is “sufficiently decentralized” is the main reason why it has remained [outside of the crosshairs](https://decrypt.co/103926/sec-chair-gensler-bitcoin-not-security-what-about-ethereum) of U.S. [key objective](https://ethereum.org/en/web3/) of crypto and Web3. Further, dominant parties could be pressured to censor transactions on the blockchain—although Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said that [such a scenario](https://decrypt.co/107700/coinbase-ceo-wed-shut-down-ethereum-staking-if-threatened-by-regulators) would prompt his company to get out of the staking business. "It is doable by anyone with a sufficiently good computer, electricity, and internet," he said. The remaining stakers, classified as “other,” have 3.65 million ETH (26.5%).

Bullish sentiment around the Ethereum merge might be wavering as the price of ETH drops sharply this morning.

The move is [not altogether unexpected](https://decrypt.co/107003/ethereum-traders-preparing-buy-sell-merge). [CoinGecko](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum), ETH is down almost 8% over the last 24 hours to a current price of $1,485. While many Ethereum proponents were in favor of the merge, some ecosystem participants were less thrilled. The hype around the merge appeared to be Today, the price of ETH plummeted below the $1,500 mark for the first time in more than a week. [remained largely flat](https://decrypt.co/109808/ethereum-price-struggles-flip-bullish-following-merge) after the overnight merge, hovering around the $1,600 mark with slight ebbs and flows.

Compared to Wednesday, the global crypto m-cap barely rose 0.1 per cent to $990.61 billion on Thursday, while volumes tumbled over 8 per cent in the last 24 ...

[Sensex](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/indices/sensex_30_companies)and [Nifty](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/indices/nifty_50_companies)Track [latest market news](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks), [stock tips](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/recos)and [expert advice](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/expert-view)on [ETMarkets](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets). [Coindesk](/topic/coindesk)report, traders of futures tracking the two tokens took on some $80 million in cumulative losses, with Ether futures seeing $67 million in liquidations. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, [subscribe to our Telegram feeds](https://t.me/joinchat/J60pKE7SOStsj5sI8nDmHQ).) [Bitcoin](/news/bitcoin)fell about 1.17 per cent to $19,674 while the second-largest crypto by market cap, Ethereum, was trading with a cut of 0.68 per cent at $1590. [Byju’s Losses Swell to ₹4,588 Crore in FY21](/epaper/delhicapital/2022/sep/15/et-front/byjus-losses-swell-to-4588-crore-in-fy21/articleshow/94209658.cms) On the other hand, [Ethereum Classic](/topic/ethereum-classic)was up by over 4 per cent at $38.48 in a volatile session.

Ethereum network's native crypto token has tanked by over 9 per cent. USDT, USDC, DAI, and BUSD have witnessed volatility. Memecoins Doge and Shiba Inu are also ...

Polkadot’s native cryptocurrency DOT and Polygon network’s slipped from their previous positions over the last 24 hours. Stablecoin DAI rose 0.02 per cent and is trading at $1. USDC stablecoin also slipped 0.01 per cent and is trading at $1. Cardano's ADA token is down 1.65 per cent. Bitcoin is trading at $19,775 and is down by 1.34 per cent. Avalanche's AVAX is down by 3.64 per cent. The crypto token is trading at $1,480. DOT token is down by 2.38 per cent and Polygon’s MATIC crypto token has come down by 3.27 per cent over the last 24 hours. The stablecoin is trading at $0.9993. Bitcoin’s dominance stands at 39.30 per cent, an increase of 0.53 per cent over the day. USDT Tether stablecoin fell 0.02 per cent in its value over the last 24 hours and is trading at $1. The global cryptocurrency market cap is down by 3.55 per cent from Thursday’s levels and is below the $1 trillion mark.

While most have celebrated with the Ethereum team following the successful Merge, others have expressed skepticism about the future of the cryptocurrency.

The account shared that “Ethereum is essentially catching up to Cardano.” Hats off to the team for executing with the world watching. All the value and control gets scooped up by the people at the top. [Community celebrates the Merge by dropping ETH-inspired art and music](https://cointelegraph.com/news/community-celebrates-the-merge-by-dropping-eth-inspired-art-and-music) 15 at 06:42:42 UTC, the last Ethereum block using the old proof-of-work consensus mechanism was mined. By design. [reduce the energy consumption](https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-co-founder-vitalik-buterin-celebrates-the-merge-dream-for-years) of the entire network by 99.95%. [congratulations](https://twitter.com/NischalShetty/status/1570308139920269312), remarking that Ethereum is the “OG of smart contracts” and has played a massive role in building the Web3 ecosystem. Replacing it is an energy-efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. [have been thrilled](https://cointelegraph.com/news/community-celebrates-the-merge-by-dropping-eth-inspired-art-and-music) by the positive impact it will have on the environment and thus, crypto’s reputation. [called](https://twitter.com/bgarlinghouse/status/1570334032587620354) it a “truly incredible technological feat,” and NFT company Yuga Labs told its followers this was a “big step” in scaling Ethereum to its “first billion users.” [following the successful Merge](https://cointelegraph.com/news/breaking-historic-day-for-crypto-as-ethereum-merge-to-proof-of-stake-occurs).

Ether was down more than 9% at one point as traders decided to “sell the fact” following a nearly seamless Ethereum Merge.

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of [Digital Currency Group](https://dcg.co/), which invests in [cryptocurrencies](https://dcg.co/#digital-assets-portfolio) and blockchain [startups](https://dcg.co/portfolio/). [Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS)](http://coindesk.com/indices/dacs), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. [strict set of editorial policies](/ethics/). [Meet 8 Ethereum Developers Who Helped Make the Merge Possible:](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/09/15/meet-8-ethereum-developers-who-helped-make-the-merge-possible/)Ethereum’s impending shift to proof-of-stake could not have happened without researchers, developers, volunteers and many, many client teams. [The Ethereum Merge Is Done, Opening a New Era for the Second-Biggest Blockchain:](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/09/15/the-ethereum-merge-is-done-did-it-work/)The historic upgrade casts aside the miners who had previously driven the blockchain, with promises of massive environmental benefits. [Merge](https://www.coindesk.com/learn/what-is-the-merge-and-why-has-it-taken-so-long/), sharply narrowed as Ethereum completed its technology transition without a hiccup. [Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Merge Cut Global Energy Usage by 0.2%, One of Biggest Decarbonization Events Ever:](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/15/vitalik-buterin-says-ethereum-merge-cut-global-energy-usage-by-02-one-of-biggest-decarbonization-events-ever/)Ethereum now spews out less carbon dioxide than a few hundred U.S. [Ether Futures Market Discount Evaporates After the Merge:](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/09/15/ether-futures-market-discount-evaporates-after-the-merge/)The negative spread between futures and spot prices has narrowed from $20 to almost zero following the Merge. 12 Market Wrap](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/09/12/market-wrap-ether-falls-despite-merge-anticipation-bitcoin-climbs-as-investors-await-inflation-data/), funding rates over the last 30 days continue to be negative, spiking directly ahead of the Merge. [ETH](https://www.coindesk.com/price/ethereum/)) price stability that prevailed after Ethereum's shift to a more energy-efficient ["proof-of-stake"](https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2020/12/30/what-is-proof-of-stake/)network suddenly evaporated as ether slid 9.1%, its worst day since late August. Instead, there’s likely a [“sell the fact”](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/09/15/pivotal-ethereum-merge-brings-sell-the-fact-price-move-in-crypto-markets/) price move in play as an “Ethereum Merge” trade unwinds. [ETH](https://www.coindesk.com/price/ethereum/)) fell 9% on above-average volume.