• Ethereum is ready for its Merge after five years of waiting. 
• There are assumptions that the transition could influence the next crypto rally.

The long-awaited Ethereum merge is set for the 19th of September, according to Evan Van Ness. Ness made the revelation in a tweet posted on the 14th of September, noting that the Ethereum merge will happen after the Bellatrix update in early September, which will put off the proof-of-work consensus. 

The Ethereum Merge scheduled for mid-September 

According to the schedule Ness uploaded on his Twitter account, Ethereum is also expecting to launch a series of testnet apart from the upcoming Merge. Expectedly, Goerli/Prater client releases are on the 27th or 28th of this month. Shortly after is the Prater Bellatrix on the 8th of August, followed by the Goerli Merge on the 11th of the same month.

Merge scheduled for mid to late September https://t.co/r9SsxeEIV5 pic.twitter.com/z2nZttCvZ2

— Evan Van Ness 🦇🔊 (@evan_van_ness) July 14, 2022

The Ethereum Merge is a significant event for the blockchain. It will eventually upgrade the network from the outdated proof-of-work algorithm to proof-of-stake. Also, the upgrade shows the relationship between Beacon Chain, which is the new consensus layer, and the blockchain’s existing executing layer. 

The new Ethereum version will address the issue of mining power by eliminating energy-intensive mining. Additionally, the network will be more secure by using staked ETH. Proof-of-stake is another way to verify transactions via the distributed consensus. Peercoin was the first digital currency to use the proof-of-stake in 2011. Apart from making the environment eco-friendly, the update will increase scalability and sustainability. 

There are also speculations that a successful Ethereum Merge could positively impact the crypto market. The entire market has been expecting the switch for five years, and the successful transition could cause a rally.

Ethereum’s increased inflows ahead of the Merge

Weeks before the news of the Ethereum Merge, institutional investors’ interest was beginning to grow. For three consecutive weeks, investment products saw inflows after recording strong outflows earlier in the year. Since January, Ethereum has seen serious price corrections like other cryptocurrencies. The entire crypto market has been under pressure, with many digital assets losing a significant percentage of their values. Since the beginning of the year, the price of Ethereum has also dropped by more than 70 percent.

At the time of writing, ETH is $1,221.90. The crypto asset has gained 12.73 percent in the last 24 hours and has a market cap of over $148 billion. Ranked the second largest cryptocurrency by market valuation, Ethereum has a 5.145 gain in its 24-hour trading volume. 

Last week, Ethereum products attracted net inflows of $7.6 million CoinShares commented on the inflows in a report:

The inflows suggest a modest turn-around in sentiment having endured 11 consecutive weeks of outflows that brought 2022 outflows to a peak of US$460m. This improvement in sentiment may be due to the increasing probability of the Merge, where Ethereum moves from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, happening later this year.