ETH is Best Top 10 Performer as First Stage of Merge Confirmed; It's 'Obviously a Very Tradable Event'

Source: AdobeStock / Sergey Nivens

The price of Ethereum’s native ETH token rallied on Thursday after the Ethereum Foundation on Wednesday announced that the Bellatrix upgrade – a key step that must be completed before the Merge – is scheduled for September 6.

As of Thursday at 09:30 UTC, ETH stood at 1,707. The token is up 4.2% for the past 24 hours, and it remains down by 7% for the past 7 days.

Still, the daily gain was enough to position ETH as the day’s strongest performer among the top 10 coins by market capitalization.

ETH price past 30 days:

Source: CoinGecko

According to the announcement from the foundation that coordinates the development of the Ethereum network, the Bellatrix upgrade will happen in epoch 144896 on Ethereum’s new proof-of-stake-based Beacon Chain – 11:34:47am UTC on Sept 6.

Additionally, the Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) triggering The Merge is 58750000000000000000000, expected between September 10 and 20.

“Following years of hard work, Ethereum’s proof-of-stake upgrade is finally here! The successful upgrade of all public testnets is now complete, and The Merge has been scheduled for the Ethereum mainnet,” the announcement said.

The announcement added that new client software for Ethereum node operators has now been released. It noted that node operators “must run both an execution and consensus layer client to remain on the network during and after The Merge.”

Further, the announcement also brought good news for those looking to cash in on bug bounties ahead of the Merge, saying:

"All Merge-related bounties for vulnerabilities have received a 4x multiplier between now and the 8th of September. Critical bugs are now worth up to [USD] 1 million USD."

STEPS Towards ETHEREUM’S MERGE:

Source: Ethereum Foundation

Commenting on Twitter after the announcement, Ethereum lead developer Tim Beiko reminded node operators to update their clients. He also reiterated that September 15 still stands as the estimated date for when the Merge will happen.

"@Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake is happening 🎉

Client releases are out - update your node! First part of The Merge, Bellatrix, happens on Sept 6. Full transition ETA: Sept 15. Mark your calendar 17"

Meanwhile, crypto exchange Coinbase revealed that it will add support for what it calls Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH), an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token, joining other exchanges in preparing for the Merge.

The new token was described by Coinbase as a utility token that “represents ETH2,” through ETH staked on Coinbase. The exchange said that cbETH can be sold and sent off the platform, while the actual ETH2 tokens it represents will remain locked until the Merge happens.

And speaking of exchanges, an article from The Information noted that major crypto exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase may end up as some of the biggest winners once the Merge happens. The reason is two-fold: firstly, the event may trigger a surge in trading activity, which exchanges always benefit from in that it generates trading fees.

“It’s obviously a very tradable event,” Samuel Harrison, managing partner at crypto venture fund Faction, was quoted as saying, adding that higher volatility typically leads to higher volume “which is good for their business.”

In addition to trading fees, exchanges also generate revenues from staking that happens on their platforms, and with more users potentially looking to stake their ETH, revenue from this part of the business may rise significantly.