Cryptocurrency markets continue to trade sideways this Thursday as Ethereum’s merge commences today. Crypto markets showed significant upside earlier this week, but now the global crypto market cap remains at the $1 trillion level, currently at $995 billion, up 5% in the past 24 hours. This week has been rather slow for both BTC and ETH as the crypto assets saw little price growth. At the same time, the bears are slowing down as the downward momentum has largely stopped for various crypto coins. Let’s look at any relevant crypto news affecting markets this week.

Key Points:

• Crypto markets continue to trade sideways with decreasing volatility.
• All eyes are on Ethereum as the merge commences today.
• So far, the merge is going well, with the number of full blocks decreasing by 10%, speaking to the tremendous potential for the increase in transaction and network throughput for ETH.
• For those looking to bet on the merge, it’s still not too late to open a position on ETH.
• There’s little change to Bitcoin’s price as the merge has little effect on BTC.

Bitcoin News

All eyes are on Ethereum this week as the date for the merge has finally arrived. Experts weighed in on the potential impact that the ETH merge might have on BTC, and according to a report from Coindesk, they agree that Bitcoin’s price isn’t likely to be affected much.

In other Bitcoin news, Decrypt reports that the U.S. Treasury blacklisted several BTC addresses related to an Iranian Ransomware group. The latest U.S. government sanctions follow the Tornado Cash sanctions a few weeks ago as the government cracks down on illegal activity facilitated by crypto and blockchain technology.

It seems the latest strategy for the government is to impose sanctions on specific addresses related to illicit activity. This effectively creates a database of addresses that exchanges, wallets, and services can utilize and flag any users or transactions that associate with those addresses.

Bitcoin continues to trade in the $20k range, currently priced at $20,111. The market capitalization for BTC is at $396 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $40 billion, a decrease of 17% in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum News

Today is the day. Ethereum’s merge is officially live, and Vitalik announced the accomplishment on Twitter:

While Ethereum’s price has remained essentially unchanged, now is a perfect time to open a position in ETH if you’re looking to bet on the merge causing a bullish run for ETH. It may take several weeks or months for the market to “price in” the merge, but once it does, don’t be surprised to see Ethereum push past the $2k price mark and attempt to overtake Bitcoin in market cap.

Even now, Ethereum’s market cap crossed over the 50% mark compared to Bitcoin several weeks ago and continues to rise in relation to BTC. If Ethereum’s outstanding performance continues, “The Flippening” may come as soon as this year.

While it’s still early to tell the full impact of the merge on Ethereum’s network, we’ve already seen a 10% drop in the number of full blocks found on Ethereum. According to Vitalik’s latest Tweet:

Ethereum is currently trading in the $1,600 range, with little change in the past 24 hours. The global market capitalization for ETH remains at $197 billion, and its 24-hour trading volume is at $24.6 billion, up 5% in the past 24 hours.

Overall the market sentiment is bullish, especially since there aren’t any reported issues with Ethereum’s merge, and things are moving smoothly.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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