Ethereum rivals boosted by impending Merge
Better-than-expected big tech earnings and talk of slowing rate hikes proved bullish for Bitcoin last week, boosting the cryptoasset towards $24K.
Both Amazon and Apple surpassed earnings expectations on Thursday, fueling a stock market rally that was sparked on Wednesday by talk of less aggressive interest rate hikes. This bullish momentum was reflected in the crypto market, with Ethereum adding 6% as a date was set for the final testnet merge before the network’s transition to proof-of-stake.
In a twist of fate, the impending Merge is also breathing life back into Ethereum’s oldest rivals. Ethereum Classic soared 50% last week as investors hedged against uncertainty around its bigger brother’s upgrade, while Polkadot rose 20% and BNB Chain added 10%. Ethereum-based protocol Uniswap is also topping the charts, having risen 17% on a proposed tweak to the fee structure.
This Week’s Highlights
– Uniswap up 17% on ‘fee switch’
– Ethereum Classic notches 150% July gains
Uniswap up 17% on ‘fee switch’
Uniswap is leading the crypto market higher, making 17% gains last week on two big developments: a proposed change to the fee model, and an integration with decentralized NFT marketplace Sudoswap.
The proposed ‘fee switch‘, which is currently being voted on by the Uniswap community, would redirect a portion of the 0.3% trading fee to holders of the governance token, instead of liquidity providers.
This change would generate income revenue for Uniswap holders for the first time, and could make the token a more attractive investment.
Ethereum Classic notches 150% July gains
Ethereum Classic, which was created after a hard fork on Ethereum’s blockchain in 2016, has jumped 50% over the last seven days to more than triple in value during July.
The momentum is being driven by Ethereum’s impending Merge, which has prompted speculation that some members of the Ethereum community — including miners — will migrate to Ethereum Classic.
This possibility was addressed directly by co-founder Vitalik Buterin on July 21st, when he told Ethereum conference attendees: “If you like proof of work, you should go use Ethereum Classic. It’s a totally fine chain.”
Week ahead
Ethereum’s impending Merge upgrade is likely to remain the dominant theme guiding crypto markets in the coming week.
The final testnet merge is now scheduled for Thursday August 4th, and, assuming all goes well, it will leave the main Ethereum network poised to make the final leap to proof-of-stake.
More big earnings reports are also due in the week ahead, plus the release of key US jobs data which could further shape macroeconomic sentiment.