ETH declines despite Ethereum 2.0 going live

Ether’s (ETH) price is currently down by nearly 3% over the past 24 hours despite the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain going live yesterday

The Ethereum network is inching closer to launching the Ethereum 2.0 and moving to a Proof of Stake protocol (PoS). The network developers have been working hard over the past few months to migrate to the PoS protocol successfully, and they are getting closer to their target.

Yesterday, the first stage of Ethereum 2.0 went live. According to Beaconcha.in, Ethereum 2.0 would be a generalised blockchain for decentralising computer-based applications. The network would power a wide range of applications from iPhone games to government bonds and other assets in the financial markets.

The launch of Beacon Chain concludes phase zero of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism transition. This latest development would fundamentally change how the Ethereum network settles payment within the ecosystem.

Developers and researchers believe that the Beacon Chain launch is a huge development for Ethereum as it lays the foundation for the network’s more scalable, secure and sustainable home. Although there is still much work to be done before finally migrating to the PoS protocol, the Beacon Chain launch is a significant milestone in the journey.

The Beacon Chain will serve as the backbone of the new Ethereum Blockchain. When launched, Ethereum 2.0 is expected to compete with PayPal and Visa in terms of processing speed while surpassing them in terms of payment and network transparency.

Following the launch of the Beacon Chain, Ethereum 2.0 is now left with two technical hurdles to overcome before PoS becomes a reality. The developers have to dynamically break the PoS Ethereum blockchain into shards (multiple datasets) and adopt Rollups (solution for decentralised apps).

Ether price underperforms

The news of the Beacon Chain launch should have propelled the price of Ether higher in the market, but it didn’t. At press time, ETH is currently down by nearly 3% against the U.S dollar over the past 24 hours.

ETH underperformance is in line with the general market, which has lost billions of dollars over the past hours. Bitcoin set a new all-time high 48 hours ago after reaching $19,900, but it is down by nearly 5% to currently trade at $18,580 per coin.

This could be a temporary pullback as market experts believe Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins could record massive profits in the coming weeks. This bull run is unlike any other in the past, and the optimism in the market remains strong.