The rate of significant cryptocurrencies has increased significantly in the past few weeks. This has not happened for a very long time because the cost of Bitcoin continues to increase despite experts’ fears. But fundamental factors still reduce the value of digital gold in the eyes of ordinary holders and investors. For example, the US Federal Reserve raised the key rate again last week. This time it was decided to increase the indicator by 75 points, which is quite a lot because such jumps were considered unacceptable for many years. As a result, at the beginning of August, the loan interest reached 2.5%, a record for more than 40 years. But much more dangerous is the rhetoric of the regulator.
Analysts agree that this situation has and will hurt the rates of major cryptocurrencies, which means it is premature to talk about stability in the market. Well, the growth that we see today is attributed to the games of the Whales and the antics of speculators. Both sides have accumulated sufficient amounts of money, so for some time, they will accelerate the rate of Bitcoin and Ethereum. At the same time, one should not forget that the current throw is mainly due to the statement of Vitaly Buterin. Recall that in the middle of last month, the dates for the transition of Ethereum to the Proof of Stake (PoS) algorithm were announced.
So, there is a search for errors in the test network of the second level of Sepolia. Based on the results of its work, a conference will be held, where a decision will be made on the timing of the launch of the final Goerli test network. It is expected that this will happen before August 12, so expecting such an important event is not long. Well, a merger is scheduled for September 19, when the leading Ethereum network will merge with the test Beacon Chain, which will be the beginning of Ethereum 2.0. This day should have a decisive impact on the cryptocurrency market, as hundreds of thousands of miners will lose access to Ethereum mining.
It is known that this will not happen in 2022, which means that for some time, we will see the existence of traditional mining and newfangled staking in the Ethereum network. Over time, the profitability of mining will fall, and farmers will slowly leave, migrating to other cryptocurrencies, or selling equipment to more successful colleagues. Some experts are sure that at this moment, we are waiting for a massive sale of video cards, which will allow us to buy the long-awaited gaming model many times cheaper than it costs today. Maybe so, it is difficult to predict such events, but there is an opinion that something very unexpected awaits us, which the developers are trying not even to mention.
An exciting survey among ordinary readers has appeared on the page of the analytical company Galois Capital on Twitter, which is worth knowing about, but first, a little theory. The fact is that when one or another hard fork occurs (a significant update that reconsiders the basics of the cryptocurrency), there is always a danger of a fork. This small offshoot arose from an accidental or deliberate refusal of some miners to update the software to switch to a new protocol. Rumors have long been circulating that several large farmers with colossal capacities will refuse to switch to Ethereum 2.0. These guys will continue to dig as if nothing had happened, leading to a fork that works according to today’s rules.
As you can see, just over 53% of respondents believe that the transition to PoS will go smoothly, while 33% expect some miners to refuse to merge. There is also a group of 13% waiting for the third fork to launch the Difficulty Bomb. You can explore other issues at the link above, but we only state that this will be the collapse of all the efforts of the developers. It is evident that it is pretty realistic to do this, only this requires the consolidation of the majority of farmers who today dig in one pool. Usually, this is a fairly active community, capable of imposing its conditions on the development team and significantly slowing down progress.
