Researcher Kyle McDonald speculates that the Bitcoin network could be regulated away resulting in a steep drop in the crypto’s value. Investors and regulators also concluded that the energy-intensive method that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) currently use is unnecessary. This will happen once the ETH blockchain switches to a less energy-intensive method of validating transactions known as proof-of-stake.
McDonald predicted that BTC would be the first to be regulated because BTC doesn’t have the same consensus mechanism as ETH. Many are left wondering how this will hit BTC in the future since they still appear unaffected by the changes.
He also mentioned that BTC’s price would never reach $69k again due to growing concern among environmentalists and governments over the industry’s energy demands. With the sudden changes happening in the crypto market, most online casino bettors are wondering how these changes will affect the Bitcoin casino games industry.
‘When you move from a system that is about generating as many random numbers as rapidly as possible with 10 million around the world to a system that is running on a few thousand computers that are very low energy, it’s going to make a major impact’, McDonald stated.
One benefit that will come from ETH’s switch, which is called ‘the Merge’, may not require as many computers to keep the blockchain going.
OpenSea, an online non-fungible token marketplace, announced that it will exclusively support the proof-of-stake chain and has made plans to ensure a ‘smooth transition’, making it the largest non-fungible token marketplace to take such a stance.
NFT risk
According to McDonald, there is a potential threat from NFTs that cannot be exchanged for other tokens. This means that it’s likely that some miners will temporarily switch to proof-of-work after the Merge occurs.
Since OpenSea stated that it will support the proof-of-stake chain. The users are still guaranteed smooth transactions.
Possible design flaw in Ethereum Merge
One of the possible design flaws in the Merge is the exchanges. More than 32% of all staked ETH is held by just three exchanges: Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken. The design has fatal flaws such as its centralization and proof-of-stake that people have no idea how to fix.
However, many believe that perhaps one day a project will find a way to solve this, but for the time being, it looks hopeless.
PoS validators are relied upon since they understand that betraying the network’s best interests will result in significant financial loss. However, exchanges do not gamble with their own money. They just direct customers’ funds in that direction and pocket the earnings, sometimes hidden from view.
They have nothing to lose if they go against the network’s best interests, unlike their clients whose tokens may lose value due to the exchange’s lousy behaviour. The size of the exchanges makes it possible for them to cause widespread ecological damage without being held accountable. Given Ethereum’s prominence and size, this will become a major issue after the Merge.
Despite some of the possible downsides, many are still looking forward to ETH’s Merge and most are hoping it will do more good on markets like crypto casinos and Bitcoin casino games.
