Ethereum Merge Clears Last Test, Pushing ETH Price Near $2,000

Bullish sentiment is building for Ethereum as its latest upgrade now works across its three key testing networks -- setting the stage for live launch on the blockchain next month.

Investor interest is building for the Ethereum (ETH) smart-contract blockchain, as its programmers have just finished the successful rollout of the complex Ethereum Merge software upgrade on the third and final testing network. This major milestone further drives confidence that the Merge could actually launch live on the Ethereum blockchain next month.

This news has pushed the price of the ETH coin up 12.5% to as high as $1,924 today -- just $76 away from the key psychological threshold of $2,000 -- across cryptocurrency exchanges, according to CoinMarketCap at the time of writing. While the intraday price has been in flux, the ETH crypto has gained nearly 20% over the past week as bullish sentiment builds for Ethereum.

The Merge has suffered setbacks and delays for years as developers have worked to reconfigure the entire network away from its energy-sucking proof-of-work (PoW) consensus method to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism that reportedly will use 99.95% less electricity. Blockchains that still use PoW include Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation promotes that once the Merge is fully in place, users of the blockchain will experience faster settlement speeds and greater transaction volume with lower costs and network congestion.

Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin spoke at a blockchain conference in Korea where he outlined those benefits again, and further shared that the Merge is just the first in a series of four more planned enhancements for the blockchain. Buterin listed the order of the next upgrades as Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge -- all of which will help future-proof the network's functionality, security, and safety.

Is now the time to buy Ethereum?

This is not financial advice and investors need to know their risk tolerance and do their own investment research. However, we've been saying for months during this crypto downturn that Ethereum is worth considering since it still handles the majority of decentralized finance, NFT, and play-to-earn action within the crypto sector. It's still priced at a 60% discount from its all-time high last November, so it's not too late to dollar-cost average into this high-quality crypto project.