The timing of the Merge has been the bone of contention for the Ethereum ecosystem. Developers expect it around September 19, even as the timeline is not concrete. But, with the details before the final testing phase of the event revealed, derivative trades have flipped bullish.
CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill, for one, believes there has been a change in investor sentiment. In the latest edition of Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, the exec credited the “turn-around” in investor sentiment to “greater clarity” on the timing of the Merge.
The report highlighted that institutional investors are stacking up their bets on investment products based on Ethereum. In fact, they witnessed inflows totaling $16 million leading to a seven consecutive week run of inflows totaling $159 million.
Institutions are pouring in the capital as sentiment around the world’s second-largest crypto asset sees a positive reversal which could spur further buying behavior.
The report stated,
“Ethereum saw inflows totaling US$16m and is enjoying a near 7 consecutive week run of inflows totaling US$159m. We believe this turn-around in investor sentiment is due to greater clarity on the timing of The Merge where Ethereum shifts from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.”
The Merge aims to eliminate the energy-intensive mining process while simultaneously securing the Ethereum network with the help of staked ETH. After months of delays, the Ethereum mainnet will merge with the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain to finally complete the transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The Ethereum 2.0 will have enhanced network efficiency, and security, in addition to drastically reducing carbon footprint by reducing energy consumption by over 99%, something that its predecessor was heavily criticized for.
Ethereum proponents have some reason to celebrate, but the ride has not been an easy one. From changing roadmaps, confusing terminology, and the latest being opposition to the transition itself, the community has seen it all. Its founder, Vitalik Buterin has been vehemently calling out any potential hard fork paving the way for another blockchain with a PoW mechanism.
But many influential figures in the space appear to support a hard fork. Tron founder, Justin Sun earlier revealed that his exchange Poloniex would list both ETHw and ETHs tokens. BitMEX also joined the list of growing supporters after it announced launching margin trading options in case of an ETHPoW fork.