Howdy, traders. It’s Matt here.

Ethereum (ETH) held a historic conference this past weekend in San Francisco.

While they’ve had this conference before in Paris and Milan, prior to taking it online during the pandemic shutdown, this was the first time Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin and the core researchers and developers of ETH showed up to represent. 

So what did they talk about … and what questions are still left for Ethereum’s future? 

And, most importantly, what does it all mean for you, the average trader? Let’s get into the nitty-gritty deets of this historic meeting…

What Traders Should Know About The Merge

Traders will, and should, trade the price action around this event as the news coverage (“hype”) goes up and down. 

But you should also realize that this isn’t some small fake PR drop. The change from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is a historic undertaking for a cryptocurrency of ETH’s size. 

Here are some mind-blowing stats that could change how we interact with Ethereum forever…

#1 The Energy Saved Will Be Astronomical

Ethereum confirmed that the energy saved by switching models amounts to a carbon emissions reduction of somewhere between 99% and 99.9%. That’s mind-blogging … and absolutely necessary. 

The effects of climate change have gotten to the point where businesses now see the need to factor wildfire risks into their business plans. Any product that plans to be a part of the future needs to adapt to the energy-efficient trend.

How does this work? The role of “miners” will be dissolved after The Merge. That means the dedicated mining equipment that was costly to purchase and run won’t be compatible with Ethereum anymore. Instead, validators will be able to do their work on machinery as simple as a Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) laptop with a satellite internet connection. 

That said, if you want in as a solo home staker, the validator nodule comes with a 32 ETH minimum barrier to entry. I may be biased, but I think the average retail trader would be better off investing in this guy instead. 

#2 Can A Digital Currency Act Like Cash?

Brian Gu, founder of 0xPARC, and Barry Whitehat of Ethereum Foundation are working on the development of zero-knowledge proofs. 

What are zero-knowledge proofs? Put simply, they’re a way to prove that something is true without having to give all your information away. So you can verify that something’s legit but still stay kind of anonymous. 

This more private way of transacting has the potential to reduce the real-world problem of identity theft. Watch out, identity theft insurers! It would also allow digital transactions to continue to be anonymous, much like cash, but more convenient.

#3 Removing Barriers to Mass Adoption

Vitalik Buterin wants to reduce Ethereum’s transaction fees by increasing its scalability. Right now, a transaction fee of $0.50 to $1.00 wouldn’t make sense if you wanted to buy yourself a $10 lunch. Nobody’s trying to tip Ethereum. 

Once The Merge completes, Ethereum plans to start a Sharding upgrade (Oh, the memes that could be made from that word). 

ETH hopes to fully implement sharding in 2023. If all goes according to plan, this could help reduce hardware costs on the validation process, which would allow its system to scale while remaining decentralized. 

In other words, transaction fees could go down, making it as practical as cash or credit cards while still remaining anonymous. And traders, I hope you get that each of these goals ETH has is an opportunity point for you to watch and trade!

Conclusion

There’s nothing more exciting than innovation. And I’m grateful to live in one of the most innovative countries in the world. 

It’s no secret that our Veteran Trader in Chief, Tim Bohen, is a huge Elon Musk fanboy. And ahem, he’s pretty sure Elon Musk’s watched his Premarket Prep too. 

Now he’s found something no one else has picked up on yet, and it has to do with the green energy craze going down right now. Be one of the first to the EV Gold Rush—before everyone else gets there!