Ethereum ($ETH) whales have begun to accumulate more of the cryptocurrency as its price has risen more than 50% in the last week, partly owing to an estimate for the date when the blockchain would undergo the Merge.
The Ethereum Merge outlines the network’s existing mainnet combined with the Proof-of-Stake mechanism of the Beacon Chain, paving the way for future scaling enhancements, such as sharding. The change is anticipated to lower Ethereum’s energy usage by 99.95 percent.
Tim Beiko, a protocol support engineer for Ethereum at the Ethereum Foundation, stated the September forecast during a PoS Implementers Call. Beiko has observed that the timing for Merge is likely to evolve.
The Merge is not anticipated to cut Ethereum’s transaction costs. Still, it will immediately affect energy consumption and pave the way for future improvements that will reduce transaction prices.
According to on-chain analytics company IntoTheBlock, as Ethereum’s price rose from roughly $1,050 to over $1,500 at the time of writing, ETH whales accelerated their collection and now control over 22.4% of the circulating supply.
Notably, Ethereum’s move above $1,500 followed a prognosis experienced cryptocurrency trader and market analyst Michal van de Poppe made. Earlier this month, predicted Ethereum might see a “big run” if it broke past its barrier of around $1,140.
A panel of 53 fintech experts at Finder provided optimistic price forecasts for the future of the cryptocurrency, with an average price goal of $1,711 by the end of the year and a surge to $5,739 by the end of 2025. The analysts anticipated that by the end of 2030, the price of Ethereum might reach $14,412.
Ethereum’s price increase coincided with a broader cryptocurrency market rebound that followed a recent sell-off that, according to Coinbase Research, was carried out “nearly entirely” by short-term holders.
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