Ethereum’s upcoming transition to a proof-of-stake [PoS] system which is scheduled for Sept. 19, has been the talk of the town, causing both hype and FOMO over the last week.
And to top that, ETH co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently laid out the next steps in the roadmap for the network with monikers Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge.
But as per a data analytics platform Santiment, the hype has so far failed to put any positive impact on the investors’ outlook.
The study highlighted that the asset is trading in severe negative sentiment territory as traders braced for a price drop in the upcoming Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee [FOMC].
The Fed’s meeting is slated to be on 26th and 27 July this week and is expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, following in the footsteps of June’s rate hike.
The report also pointed out that any price rally of the coin would be short-lived and volatility would persist for some time.
“ETH had an up and down Sunday, jumping above $1,640 before dipping back down to $1,540. The trading crowd continues to not believe the hype and is expecting prices to fall heading into the FOMC meeting. ETH should continue to stay volatile.”
Ethereum Held On Exchanges Hit A 4-Year Low
In a separate study by Glassnode, Ethereum held on exchanges hit a four-year low after record staking figures on Ethereum 2.0 [the network’s incoming upgrade, recently rebranded to “Consensus Layer”].
Glassnode also found that centralized exchanges [CEX] currently hold over 19 million ETHs. The latest data is a little over 20 million back in July 2018, Glassnode suggested.
The sharp decline in Ethereum held across exchanges is likely due to the increasing number of Eth staked as the network prepares for its biggest upgrade yet.
Chainalysis, a blockchain data tracking platform, also reported similar findings: “The change in ETH held on exchanges experienced the largest one-day decrease in 202 days, decreasing by 432.84k ETH to 249.58k ETH.”
In contrast to the current network, Eth 2.0 is a proof-of-stake [PoS] network where validators stake 32 Eth to verify the network’s integrity.