Crypto Market Cap Rises 15% In One Week After Ethereum Merge Date Revealed

by · July 22, 2022

It’s been a volatile yet positive week for cryptocurrencies, as traders ignored warnings from crypto winter veterans that more downside was ahead and jumped back into the market at the first sign of rising prices.

Evidence of the reversal in sentiment can be found in the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which has climbed into the fear zone after spending record time in extreme fear territory due to collapsing prices in May and June.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index. Source: Alternative

As for what triggered the rally of extreme fear, a closer look at the timeline points to the announcement of the expected date of the Ethereum merger, which came on July 15.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that following the reveal of the merger date, the price of Ether (ETH) has risen 38.5% from $1,190 to a daily high of $1,650 on July 22 amid a generally green day in the market .

ETH/USDT 1-Day Chart. Source: TradingView

Coupled with the rising price of Ether, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased by 15% in the past week to today’s value of $1.051 trillion.

Ethereum-associated projects are getting a boost

Further evidence that the excitement surrounding Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake (PoS) is driving the rally can be found by looking at the top gainers of the past week, which include several projects related to the leading smart contract protocol.

Top 5 coins with highest 7-day price change. Source: CoinMarketCap

As Ethereum transitions to PoS, the huge mining network that currently secures the network will be orphaned and need a new chain to mine.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is one of the best options in terms of network design and compatibility since it is technically the original Ethereum proof-of-work chain.

ETC/USDT 1-Day Chart. Source: TradingView

The ETC price has risen 100% over the past nine days, suggesting that there is a large contingent of traders also anticipating a mining migration to Ethereum Classic, which could bode well for the token’s price in the long term.

Related: Bitcoin Wobbles on Wall Street Open as Ethereum Hits $1.6K at 6-Week High

Liquid staking regains its mojo

The other notable winner benefiting from Ethereum-related developments is Lido DAO (LDO), a floating stake platform that allows depositors to stake Ether in exchange for stETH, which is a one-to-one representation that can be used as collateral in decentralized finance .

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that since the merger data was revealed, the price of LDO has risen 80% from $0.885 to today’s price of $1.59 after a brief rise to $1.92 on July 20.

LDO/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

On top of the momentum from its attachment to Ethereum Merge, the price of LDO has also benefited from the addition of support for other protocols such as Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT), as well as the expansion to layer-2 protocols.

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