Ether increased 13% to a two-month elevate after ethereum dragged closer to an upgrade

August 13, 2022: -Ether soared to a two-month high after developers completed a final dress rehearsal for a pivotal upgrade expected next month.

The second-huge cryptocurrency in the world reached a price above $1,927 on Thursday, according to data from CoinMetrics. That’s the high level from early June and a 13% jump in the last 24 hours.

Testnets permit developers to test and make necessary adjustments before updates launch on the main blockchain. One of ethereum’s test networks, Goerli, simulated a process identical to what the leading network will execute in September.

On Wednesday, ethereum is running its last dry run for the “merge,” a critical event expected to make it faster and more energy-efficient.

Proof-of-work consensus mechanisms on crypto miners to verify transactions. On the other hand, proof-of-stake networks require validators to hold a certain amount of tokens to participate, making them much less energy-intensive. The merge will see ether’s underlying blockchain change from a proof-of-work system to an efficient proof-of-stake model. The event has been delayed multiple times and is expected to occur on September 19.

Once finalized, the upgrade is anticipated to speed up transactions on the ethereum network and make it more energy-efficient, with backers hoping it will address criticisms over the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has been losing some ground to other tokens in recent years, with its market dominance coming below 40% from almost 70% at the start of 2020. That has led a few investors to bet ether may eventually steal bitcoin’s thunder.

For IT specialist Kaj Burchardi, even if ethereum eventually unseats bitcoin as the crypto king is “pretty much irrelevant” since they don’t compete with each other.

“The purpose of why you purchase bitcoin, from a mindset perspective, and what you want to do with that is fundamentally instead of using ethereum,” said Burchardi, which manages director of BCG Platinion, the IT-concentrated division of Boston Consulting Group.