Share this article
Ether Price Trades Flat After Successful Ethereum Merge
Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake system was successfully completed just after 2:30 a.m. ET, or 5:30 a.m. GMT at block 15537391.
By Sam Reynolds
Updated May 11, 2023, 4:44 p.m. Published Sep 15, 2022, 7:07 a.m.
Make us preferred on Google
The price of ether moved less than 1% to $1,605 during the first few minutes after the Ethereum Merge, remaining effectively flat during the Asia trading day.
- In the two-week run-up to the Merge, the price of the blockchain's native token was up 4%, but remains down 15.5% on the month, according to market data.
- Meanwhile, the price of token is down 2% to $36.34.
- While Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was quoted on the Bankless podcast as saying ether was “not going to be priced in pretty much until after [the Merge] happens,” traders appeared to disagree.
- “Many believe that the Merge might make Ethereum faster or cheaper. This is not the case. For end users or developers there should be no noticeable difference between Ethereum before and after the Merge,” Will Harborne, founder and CEO of the rhino.fi protocol, told CoinDesk.
- According to EtherNodes, 88% of ether nodes were Merge-ready and synched in the moments leading up to the event. In total 12%, or 305, nodes appeared to be recalcitrant with the transition with the majority from the Geth network.
- While the Merge didn’t have a material impact on the price of ether, on-chain data shows an inflow of $1.2 billion onto exchanges, as CoinDesk previously reported.
- Steep exchange inflow is usually a sign of traders preparing to sell, however, there isn’t a consensus yet. It could be anything from investors hedging positions to preparing to collect airdropped tokens from the expected EthereumPoW fork.
- “If this happened last year we’d be at $8,000 already,” March Zheng, a Shanghai-based partner at Bizantine Capital said to CoinDesk via WeChat. “But the fundamentals couldn’t be stronger.”
Read more: The Ethereum Merge Is Done, Opening a New Era for the Second-Biggest Blockchain
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante
The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.
What to know:
- Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
- Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
- fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.
Top Stories
