Ethereum on track for version 2.0

Recently, developers and the Ethereum Foundation reported optimistic test results of the Beacon chain, operating under the announced proof of stake model. 

• The price of the Ethereum has broken out again above $3,000, which has so far been a psychological resistance for the altcoin price;

• The cryptocurrency market is gaining in view of tomorrow's speech by Fed chief Powell, which is expected to address the regulation of digital assets;

• Crypto market participants' expectations of the regulators' stance are clearly positive, and the FED and other financial institutions have recently given signals that can be interpreted as a desire for balanced regulation while not outlawing cryptocurrency payments;

Investors are wondering when the final merger of the test networks with the Ethereum core network will take place. The Kiln test network went live a week ago, with developers communicating that work to transform the current proof of work model to a greener and more efficient proof of stake model has been successful. The final transition of Ethereum to proof of stake is expected to take place later this year. 

At the same time, a triple halving of the ETH token is also to take place. If indeed the developers live up to their declarations it can be expected that the reward for a mined block of Ethereum will drop nearly threefold, and some miners will stop mining by switching to effective staking ('freezing' cryptocurrencies in the Ethereum network to validate transactions).

Some investors expect the difficulty of mining to increase by up to 90% which could result in a potential supply shock and is referred to by the creators as a 'difficulty bomb' The drop in mining of new tokens and available ETH for sale could favour the token's valuation if demand for Ethereum remains high. Similar halving in the past has had a significant impact on Bitcoin's price, but was programmed to be slower than Ethereum's developers announced.

Meanwhile, developers are stepping up work to merge the old (current) chain with the new consensus chain, which is already underway for December 2020. The Kiln network has replaced the Kintsugi test network, which provided an experimentation site for the final 'The merge', the Ethereum Foundation reported. The Kiln network layer was launched in parallel with the Beacon chain, running on a proof-of-stake target. The merger of the two chains can be considered a major success for developers, allowing the Beacon chain to take over Ethereum's transaction validation function. The merging of Kiln with the Beacon chain was considered to be the last, very serious test before the 2.0 implementation and the merging of the Ethereum cryptocurrency itself with it.

The results of the work look optimistic, and the Ethereum community has implemented sets of the latest updates within Kiln. All participants in the ETH blockchain are now encouraged by the developers to test on the new network in order to collect as much data as possible. 

It looks like Ethereum developers may be able to time the oft-postponed launch of ETH 2.0 later this year, with summer 2022 being mentioned as a realistic date. However, we certainly cannot currently predict precisely when the merger to version 2.0 will take place, as developers are still continuing the phase of promising tests so far called 'shadow forks'.

Ethereum, D1 interval. The price of the Ethereum has been moving in a downtrend since the fall of 2021.  However, we are currently seeing a bullish breakout from the triangle formation. The price of ETH has recently tried several times to break the psychological resistance in the area of 3000 USD and 3200 USD, where the 38.2% retracement according to the Fibonacci measure is located. The nearest resistance for the growth of the cryptocurrency we can look for precisely at the level of 3200 USD, which coincides with the 38.2 retracement, in case of its defeat the road to 3900 USD seems to be open. Some investors may perceive exceeding 3000 USD as a short-term buy signal, which may help the demand side. At the same time, it is worth taking into account the correlation of the cryptocurrency market with the traditional stock exchange and the impact of geopolitical variables and macroeconomic factors on the market. Source: xStation 5