As exchanges gear up for Merge, is there a new token on the way

The Ethereum [ETH] Merge scheduled for subsequent month is arguably the most popular matter within the crypto business proper now. Buyers, establishments, and even regulators are anticipated to maintain an in depth eye on ETH. That is because of the anticipated transition to the energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mannequin.

Exchanges gearing up

Crypto exchanges together with Coinbase, Binance, Uniswap, and Crypto.com have demonstrated their assist for the much-anticipated Merge. Nonetheless, these organizations have introduced sure measures to make sure that the transition is correctly up to date on their platforms. 

Coinbase announced earlier this month that ETH and ERC-20 token deposits and withdrawals will likely be paused to make sure a seamless transition.

Binance adopted swimsuit and advised customers in a blog post that ETH and ERC-20 token deposits and withdrawals will likely be suspended on 15 September at 00:00 (UTC). 

Staking actions for each these exchanges will even be halted until the Merge is full. Stablecoin tasks Tether and Circle have each reiterated their unique assist for Ethereum PoS. 

Potential PoW laborious fork

The bigger a part of the Ethereum group is in favor of the Merge. Nonetheless, a fraction of the group doesn’t appear thrilled with the shift to PoS.

The faction is generally made up of ETH miners. Miners threat dropping their investments in costly mining gear. Moreover, the replace would render their enterprise mannequin ineffective. Thus, miners are in anticipation of a hardfork.   

Binance additional clarified that within the occasion of a fork, the ETH ticker will likely be reserved for Ethereum PoS. It additionally added that “withdrawals for the forked token will likely be supported.” Numerous exchanges have up to date their choices in anticipation of such a fork. 

🔄 The hole between #Ethereum‘s prime 10 largest non-exchange addresses & trade addresses is closing as we head towards the #merge in 3 weeks. Since Might tenth, these prime non-exchange $ETH addresses maintain 11% much less cash, & prime trade addresses maintain 78% extra. https://t.co/k5OlJ1hG3D pic.twitter.com/XOAVhXaKPG

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 24, 2022

Main whale exercise

Data from Santiment revealed that over the previous three months, the highest ten ETH non-exchange addresses have decreased their holdings by 11%. In the meantime, the highest ten addresses have added 78% extra ETH to their holdings.

The hole between these two has been closing within the run-up to subsequent month’s Merge.

It may be argued that whales are shifting their holdings onto exchanges to arrange to dump in case ETH costs plummet following the Merge.