The long-awaited Ethereum protocol upgrade, also known as Serenity, will be officially launched on 1st December. New upgrade will transition the network to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, replacing the current proof-of-work model.
There are four phases of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. To activate the launch of the beacon chain, its deposit contract, released on Nov. 5, required a deposit threshold of 524,288 Ether and at least 16,384 validators. According to the data from blockchair.com, already 852,608 ETH has been staked in the deposit contract by 26,652 validators. Validators will be the primary stakeholders of the Ethereum network, responsible for validating transactions. To become an Ethereum 2.0 validator, a user must stake a minimum of 32 ETH in the deposit contract. Validator will earn passive income at around 7% per anum, once the network is launched, however these coins will be unavailable for at least two years until the transition progresses to Phase 2. Launch of the ETH 2.0 means that the network will be supported by validators staking their coins instead of miners providing their computing power to ensure the network operations.
ETHEREUM - last week price fell to $478.00 but buyers managed to regain control over the weekend and currently coin is testing upper limit of the triangle pattern which is additionally strengthened by resistance at $587.00. The demand for the token is expected to increase significantly due to the launch of ETH 2.0 and the upward move could be extended to the $621.00 handle. However should price fail to break above the aforementioned resistance zone, a near-term support lies at $553.00 and is additionally strengthened by 50 SMA (green line). Source: xStation5
