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Billionaire and crypto fan Mark Cuban has announced that he feels "very bullish" on the upcoming crucial Ethereum upgrade referred to as "Merge," according to a recent article by Fortune.
Cuban believes the upgrade will be very important for Ethereum, and he suggested two reasons for it.
The "Merge" is expected this summer (although this has not been confirmed yet), and it will make the second biggest blockchain more green, as well as introduce changes to its infrastructure.
Mark Cuban is ‘very bullish’ on the upcoming Ethereum ‘merge.’ https://t.co/LGKUvXv6ve
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) April 6, 2022Advertisement
Two reasons why Cuban believes "Merge" to be important
The billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks team believes that the upcoming Ethereum upgrade is important for two reasons. The first is that ETH will switch to the proof-of-stake verification algorithm from proof-of-work. This will make Ethereum more eco-friendly and greener than Bitcoin, Litecoin and other coins running on PoW.
Ethereum miners will no longer consume massive amounts of energy and reduce the negative impact of Ethereum on the environment. Energy consumption is expected to drop by 99%. Proof-of-stake verifies transactions based on the amount of coins staked by validators.
Currently, Ethereum runs two chains: one uses PoW and the other runs on PoS. However, only the former one validates transactions at the moment. With the "merge" introduced, Ethereum will completely turn to the proof-of-stake model.
The second reason is that there is a great likelihood that the circulating supply of ETH will shrink since a lot fewer coins will be minted. Then, ETH will become more scarce with the price going up.
Besides, Cuban expects the amount of institutional flows into Ethereum to see a major rise.
Here's why Cuban became excited about Ethereum
The businessman, who is an Ethereum maximalist, told Fortune that he is greatly excited about the second biggest blockchain because it resembles the internet at its early stage to him.
In 2021, Cuban publicly admitted that what got him to fall in love with Ethereum was smart contracts, which allowed developers to create DeFi and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to Cuban:
That's what changed the game. That's what got me excited. That's why it's a lot like the internet.
Goldman Sachs plans to offer OTC options on Ethereum
Bloomberg has reported that banking giant Goldman Sachs intends to offer its customers the opportunity to trade over-the-counter options on the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
This decision has been prompted by growing interest from clients witnessed by the bank.
These ETH options will be settled in cash, according to the global chief of crypto trading at Goldman Sachs. At the moment, the bank's customers view Ethereum as a "more investable asset class."
Vladislav Sopov