Ethereum Merge has been completed today at 8:00 am BST and is said to be successful. This was a massive event for the cryptocurrency and could change the way it is viewed by some market participants. The Merge will end Ethereum's reliance on crypto miners and instead will rely more on validators. What does it mean? In short, Ethereum will no longer be as energy-intensive as it used to. In fact, energy consumption of Ethereum network is expected to drop by as much as 99% in the aftermath of the Merge. This means that the main hurdle that was preventing ESG-oriented investment funds from investing in it - high energy consumption - is gone. Of course, it does not mean that all of such funds will now jump to buy it. However, it means that this asset will be now eligible for inclusion in portoflios of more market participants.
While the event is certainly big for Ethereum, market reaction to the completion of the Merge was almost non-existent. Taking a look at the ETHEREUM chart at H1 interval, we can see that price is breaking back above the $1,600 resistance. A near-term resistance to watch can be found at 38.2% retracement of the downward move launched in mid-August ($1,650 area).
Source: xStation5