Will Ethereum take over Bitcoin post ‘The Merge’?

Sahana Kiran
Ethereum
Source – Unsplash

Ethereum [ETH] has been standing tall as the second largest cryptocurrency for the longest time. While ETH has always been second to Bitcoin [BTC], the chances of a switch-up were highlighted. The entire crypto community has been eagerly awaiting the transition of ETH from proof-of-work [PoW] to proof-of-stake [PoS]. After years of development, this shift is expected to occur in September. There has been a lot of uproar surrounding this network upgrade. With so many predictions in place, a new one decided to surface.

Appearing in a recent interview, Vivek Raman suggested that Ethereum entailed the capability of taking over Bitcoin post ‘The Merge.’ He said,

“Ethereum does have, just from an economic perspective and because of the effect of the supply shock, a chance to flip Bitcoin.”

The Merge is expected to address an array of things. Sustainable issuance of the cryptocurrency will be highlighted in the upcoming upgrade. In addition, Ethereum’s total supply is expected to be slashed by a whopping 90 percent. Therefore, the network expects low inflation and even lower than Bitcoin.

Speaking about the same, Raman said,

“After The Merge, Ethereum will have lower inflation than Bitcoin. Especially with fee burns, Ethereum will be deflationary while Bitcoin will always be inflationary. Although, with every halving, the inflation rate goes down.”

This wasn’t all; several others on Twitter pointed out how Ethereum has managed to grow through the years.

Will post-Merge Ethereum defy the laws of decentralization?

Ethereum’s upcoming transition has also created a backlash, and several have speculated that the network would lose its level of decentralization. In addition, Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy, went on to label ETH security. While Vitalik Buterin gave a fitting reply to the same, Raman believes that ETH would employ the DeFi space post Merge.

Raman pointed out that Bitcoin’s hold as digital gold would persist. However, Ethereum would entail “a large adoption space.” This would reportedly be done with DeFi as its base layer. Since the upcoming upgrade wouldn’t aid in minimizing ETH’s high transaction fees, L2 solutions will be employed. He added,

“Users need to learn that all of their activities should be on layer 2 and then layer 2s ultimately will use Ethereum as a base layer 1 for settlement and security and decentralization.”

With just weeks left for the imminent upgrade, ETH witnessed a significant daily drop. At press time, the altcoin traded for $1,520 with a 5.77 percent dip.