Cash.Tech Newsletter #26: Ethereum marches amid negative sentiment on Merge delay
According to a recent update from lead developer Tim Beiko, the long-awaited Ethereum merge, originally scheduled for June 2022 will now need to hold on for at least a “few months.” The latest developments have dampened market sentiment, especially among investors predicting a significant ETH price move in the buildup to the merge.
This week’s Cash.Tech Newsletter reviews important metrics from the Ethereum ecosystem suggesting sustained growth and usage despite the delayed Merge. We also review the growing prominence of so-called “Ethereum killers,” including the big question about whether Ethereum’s prominence will continue to decline as the big network upgrade continues to be delayed. Meanwhile, here’s your weekly dose of updates from the Cash.Tech development team.
Cash.Tech development update
The Cash.Tech team stepped up development of the Merchant Protocol this week by introducing a conversion logic in the product payment process. This is an improvement on last week’s progress when we only integrated the front-end feature for this flow. With this week’s progress, users can now change the currency they want to use to pay for merchant products! The current UI accepts conversions from ETH, BNB, and MATIC to USD and EUR. Support for additional assets including $CATE will be added in due course.
In the coming weeks, the team will continue the development of the API which connects the product payment process to the front-end. This will be followed by connecting the conversion logic to the application’s front-end. Once completed, merchants will now be able to receive payments from customers, marking a new chapter for the Cash.Tech Wallet! We look forward to sharing future updates regarding the team’s progress.
Ethereum sees sustained usage and growth despite merge delay
Ethereum’s position as the leading platform for deploying decentralized applications is indisputable. Despite the main network’s inherent scalability issues and the gradual move to layer-two solutions, a significant portion of the global crypto transactions take place on Ethereum. Data from Etherscan shows that the Ethereum network has handled approximately 1.1 million transactions daily since the turn of the year.
(Source: Etherscan)
Network usage has been sustained despite relatively quiet market conditions and a delayed merge. At the same time, the total number of new addresses on the Ethereum network continues to climb. The total number of addresses ever created is also now approaching the 200 million mark.
(Source: Etherscan)
Another key metric to consider in this regard is the total value of locked assets in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Out of the nearly $210 billion locked in DeFi protocols, some $120 billion (over 55%) lives on Ethereum and related layer-2 solutions.
However, Ethereum’s dominance in the dApp space is similar to Bitcoin’s historical position as the leading cryptocurrency by size. It could come under test as the industry evolves and data suggests that so-called “Ethereum killers” are lurking.
Are the Ethereum Killers catching up?
(Source: DeFilLama)
Ethereum’s high network fees is a known factor pushing users to alternative layer-1 solutions. Hence, it is not surprising that Ethereum’s DeFi dominance has continued to drop, while competitors such as Terra, BNB Chain, and Solana gain market share.
The delayed merge apparently gives an opportunity for “Ethereum Killers’’ to keep gaining market share, although there’s still a lot of ground to be covered. For instance, Ethereum’s closest competitor Terra only has a TVL worth less than 20% of ETH’s market share while others are still relatively small players.
(Source: DeFilLama)
Granted, the Ethereum merge will not directly fix the network’s scalability issues (at least not immediately). However, it will increase public confidence in the network’s market valuation and its long-term prospects. Hence, the new timeline of a “few months” after June will likely have to hold true or Ethereum would risk losing further ground to its swarm of “killers.”
Access your favorite Ethereum apps on Cash.Tech
Cash.Tech Wallet is your one-stop self-custodial solution for everything Ethereum. Cash.Tech allows you to send and receive ETH, ERC-20 tokens and non fungible tokens (NFTs) The Cash.Tech Wallet also enables access to your favorite Ethereum-based DeFi applications and NFT marketplace. Cash.Tech also believes in a multi-chain future and also enables transactions for the Polygon (MATIC) and BNB Chain network.
Cash.Tech is already live on Mainnet for Android and iOS users. Android users can now access the app on Google Playstore, with the iOS version coming to the Apple Store in the coming weeks! Apple Users can access Cash.Tech via https://testflight.apple.com/join/In3h8jr9.
