Ethereum, the second-largest virtual asset in terms of market capitalization, has successfully completed the long-awaited Merge upgrade, but it is recording its worst return in three months this week due to profit-taking that is faithful to the stock market maxim.
According to CoinMarketCap, a market data company, as of 10:30 a.m. on the 17th, Ethereum prices remained at $1,440, down 2.59% from 24 hours ago. The price, which exceeded $1,700 until the 13th, turned around rapidly on the 14th to the 15th, before and after the merge upgrade.
As a result, Ethereum prices have fallen 16.6% this week alone, the largest weekly drop in nearly three months since mid-June.
The success of Ethereum’s merge upgrade, which converts the transaction verification method, the most essential part of the blockchain network, from proof of work (PoW) to proof of equity (PoS), is evaluated as a historical event.
“It’s a huge engineering achievement from a purely technical point of view, not to exaggerate,” said Antofarroian, CEO of ARK36, a hedge fund specializing in virtual assets. “It’s similar to replacing this engine by creating a new engine and slowing it down or discouraging it.” In particular, he praised, “The fact that we have led this change through a network of developers who are not controlled by a particular entity in the center has achieved key ideals in the field of virtual assets.”
After this success, the price of ETHPoW, a forked version of Ethereum created by Ethereum miners who adhere to the existing work proof method, plunged from $21 just before the Merge upgrade to $9.
