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Compact:
Ethereum 2.0 is expected to launch in the coming weeks. The address of the ETH2 smart contract was announced three days ago. The Ethereum price reacted positively to the announcement.
Ethereum heralds a new era and set out on a journey to implement the switch to proof-of-stake in three different phases. The new consensus mechanism is supposed to work in a more resource-efficient way than proof-of-work, which is known to lead to a race between miners and consume a lot of energy.
Phase 0 is now pending, which will mark the start of the Ethereum beacon chain. In order for it to start, 524,288 ETH must be sent to the smart contract in staking. If you want to participate, you need at least 32 ETH and must be ready to operate your own validator node. In addition, for the time being you can no longer access your ETH because it is then blocked in the smart contract for at least 1 year.
One possible solution to this problem is Lido. The protocol aims to make it possible for investors with their ETH to participate in both. For example, you can take part in staking with 32 ETH and still participate in the market at the same time. This is where DeFi is likely to be the most interesting for many investors.
Ethereum course reacts positively
The market reacted positively to the announcement and the Ethereum price was able to gain around 60 US dollars. So, at the moment, ETH is quoted at 460 US dollars, but when you look at the market as a whole, that’s rather inconspicuous.
Because in addition to the announcement for Ethereum 2.0, the Bitcoin rally is taking a little breather and thus giving Altcoins and tokens a little space to relax. And so Ethereum is not the only altcoin on the market that has seen growth against the US dollar. But the positive mood is deceptive. The Altcoins do not succeed – or only in rare cases – to show a better performance than the Bitcoin course. Only when this relationship changes is there a reason to be happy. However, if Bitcoin continues to storm to the next year’s high, this could be very difficult.
However, there is one big plus point for ETH. Because for Ethereum 2.0 to start, a total of 16,384 validators each have to send 32 ETHs to the smart contract. These 524,288 ETH would therefore be taken off the market, which is the equivalent of around 240 million US dollars. Truly not a large sum when you consider the total amount in circulation, but it is expected that more and more users will switch to staking or join forces for it.
This could lead to an additional shortage and that in turn could be a price driver. But there is still some time until then because it can be assumed that many users will still wait and see.
Note: This article is not investment or investment advice and only reflects the personal opinion of the author. Please note our full disclaimer.
