Ethereum (ETH) network has witnessed a sharp jump in overall activity during the past few days amid the last stage of its much-awaited network update. On 15 September 2022, the Ethereum Merge went live as Vitalik Buterin, the Co-Founder of ETH, confirmed the development in a Tweet.
Amid the network upgrade, the total ETH balance on prominent exchanges reached 21.96 million for the first time since April 2022. Additionally, address activity across the network has jumped recently as dormant Ethereum supply touched its lowest level in one month on 15 September.
Yesterday, Finance Magnates reported a sharp surge in whale ETH addresses. According to Glassnode, 1,199 addresses now hold at least 10,000 coins. The company noted that the number of Ethereum addresses with at least 1,000 coins reached 6,535 on Thursday, which is the highest level in approximately 16 months.
However, despite the rising retail activity, the institutional flows related to Ethereum investment products remained negative. A recent report from CoinShares indicates that Ethereum products witnessed outflows worth $61.6 million last week.
The ETH Merge
Simon Peters, the Market Analyst at eToro, believes that the Merge will have a significant impact on the crypto ecosystem.
“In terms of the ETH ‘tokenomics’, the merge and the PoS shift could be positive for the price of ETH for several reasons. Firstly, the issuance - the amount if new ETH entering circulation - will drop significantly, with estimates currently around a 90% fall. Secondly, a minimum fee must be paid to the network to execute transactions. This fee will get ‘burned’ during the process, removing it from circulation. The burning of ETH from circulation will leave less of the crypto asset circulating in the system over time,” Peters said.
“Thirdly, holders can begin staking, a form of passive reward for helping to secure the network. Again, this will take ETH out of the circulating supply,” eToro’s Market Analyst highlighted.
