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<\/p>\nOn Saturday (August 13), the price of $ETH, the native token of Ethereum, went above the $2,000 level for the first time since June 1.<\/p>\n
According to data by TradingView, on crypto exchange Binance, the $ETH price hit $2,006.36 at 4:24 a.m. UTC on August 13. By 6:19 a.m. UTC, the $ETH price reached $2019.68, which is so far today\u2019s intraday high. <\/p>\n
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Ethereum\u2019s \u201cMerge\u201d hard fork, which is when the Ethereum network is making the transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake), is expected to take place around September 15.<\/p>\n
Here is how Ethereum Foundation\u00a0explains\u00a0The Merge:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Merge represents the joining of the existing execution layer of Ethereum (the Mainnet we use today) with its new proof-of-stake consensus layer, the Beacon Chain. It eliminates the need for energy-intensive mining and instead secures the network using staked ETH. A truly exciting step in realizing the Ethereum vision \u2013 more scalability, security, and sustainability.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that initially, the\u00a0Beacon Chain\u00a0shipped separately from\u00a0Mainnet. Ethereum Mainnet \u2013 with all it\u2019s accounts, balances, smart contracts, and blockchain state \u2013 continues to be secured by\u00a0proof-of-work, even while the Beacon Chain runs in parallel using\u00a0proof-of-stake. The approaching Merge is when these two systems finally come together, and proof-of-work is replaced permanently by proof-of-stake.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s consider an analogy. Imagine Ethereum is a spaceship that isn\u2019t quite ready for an interstellar voyage. With the Beacon Chain, the community has built a new engine and a hardened hull. After significant testing, it\u2019s almost time to hot-swap the new engine for the old mid-flight. This will merge the new, more efficient engine into the existing ship, ready to put in some serious lightyears and take on the universe.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n On July 21, Buterin shared his thoughts about \u201cthe longer-term future of the Ethereum protocol\u201d at the annual\u00a0Ethereum Community Conference\u00a0(EthCC) in Paris, France.<\/p>\n Buterin started his talk by saying:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Etheruem protocol right now is in the middle of this long and complicated transition, and it\u2019s a transition toward becoming a system, which is much more powerful and robust in a lot of ways, right?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the last year, I published this kind of updated roadmap document, where I talked about these big five categories of stuff that\u2019s happening in Ethereum protocol land, where there\u2019s the merge, the surge, the verge, and then a bit lower is going to be the purge and the splurge, right?<\/em><\/p>\n