Ether and PoW Coins Outperform Rivals as The Merge Draws Near

As The Merge draws near, ETM is beating most other top digital assets, trading recently for $1,700, up 14% since September 7.

However, a few Proof-of-Work (PoW) tokens are surging even more as traders speculate on the likely destination of Ethereum’s displaced workers after the long-awaited update goes into effect.

Around September 15, Ethereum will switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus, kicking Proof-of-Work miners off the system in the meantime. The improvement will lower new Eth issuing by 87% while reducing the network’s energy usage by more than 99.9%.

The buildup to The Merge caused ETH to experience tremendous volatility, with traders scrambling to gather Ether before the update goes public, possibly to maximize the value they might get on Ethereum PoW forks.

The Defiant Terminal reports that ETH has increased by around 70% since early July. Ether isn’t the only digital currency to profit from The Merge’s interruptions; several traders wagered on the location of Ethereum’s $5 billion worth of mining equipment and hash rate just after the update.

As per CoinMarketCap, Ethereum Classic is beating Ethereum, with ETC up more than 20 percent over the last 20 days and 185 percent since mid-July. According to TradingView, the price of ETC has also doubled in relation to ETH since July 18.

Messari reports that since early July, the network hash rate of Ethereum Classic has increased by almost 150%. The high hash rate indicates that many workers have switched their mining focus to the network. According to Bob Summerwill, the executive director of ETCCooperative, a company that offers funds to assist the Ethereum Classic ecosystem, Ethereum Classic has the highest impact by block rewards after Ethereum.

As a result, Ethereum Classic is more equipped than other PoW chains to handle a significant rise in hash rate without suffering much from the effects on rewards. Other chains cannot absorb even a small portion of the hash power before going broke.

However, other smaller PoW chains beat ETH as The Merge approaches. As per CoinGecko, Ravencoin is up 65.5% over the last week and 180% since mid-July. Following the news that the token will be launched on the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Flux is also up 14%. Since early July, the token has increased by 180%.

Before The Merge, Rocket Pool, a liquid staking service, is also seeing impressive gains, with its token up 38.5% in the last week. Among some of the 100 best cryptocurrencies by market valuation this week, tokens connected to the Terra ecosystem had the most gains. Over the past week, LUNA is up 184%, USTC is up 60%, and LUNC is up 54%.

A governance motion calling for implementing a 1.2% tax on on-chain transfers that will be burnt from its supply was followed by LUNC’s remarkable surge. The plan aroused speculation that LUNC would experience deflation, in which case more coins are destroyed as moderator incentives than are produced.

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