Ethereum Merge Upgrade Goes Live on Goerli Testnet, ETH Eyes $2,000 As Whales Accumulate

On Wednesday, August 10, Ethereum completed its final dress rehearsal of the Merge upgrade of the Goerli testnet. This gives developers a green light to proceed with the Merge upgrade on the Ethereum mainnet scheduled on September 19.

The Goerli testnet just simulated the process identical to what shall happen on the Ethereum mainnet in September. Testnets allow developers to try new things and make necessary changes before the update rolls out to the mainnet. “Goerli has this badge of a bottom-up testnet,” said Josef Je, a developer who worked with the Ethereum Foundation.

The latest development brings Ethereum a step closer to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) transition. The PoS Ethereum 2.0 will come with enhanced performance efficiency, better network scalability, lower gas fee, and a lot more benefits.

Ansgar Dietrichs, a researcher with the Ethereum Foundation, called it “another successful test”.

Ethereum (ETH) Eyes $2,000 Levels

The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency has registered a solid pullback gaining nearly 80% over the last month. Over the last 24 hours, ETH is trading 12% up at a price of $1882 with a market cap of $229 billion.

The positive developments with The Merge upgrade coupled with lesser than expected inflation data on Thursday provided the much-needed price boost. On-0chain data provider Santiment reported that the ETH whale accumulation has surged significantly during the recent price rise. It stated:

Ethereum surged back over $1,880 after a positive #CPI report Wednesday. This 2-month high in price came with a major influx of $ETH transactions valued at $100,000 or more. This is happening in tandem with whale addresses appearing to be accumulating.

Speaking to CNBC, Tim Beiko, the coordinator for ethereum’s protocol developers, said that they will closely observe the Goerli testnet performance for a few hours to identify any potential issues, if they arise.

“We want to see the network finalizing and having a high participation rate amongst validators and also make sure we don’t hit any unexpected bugs or issues,” said Beiko.