Ether is trading well above $4,050 on Christmas Day as per market data.ETH holders are hoping for a post-Santa rally to propel the token above $4,200 before the end of the festive weekend.Outside the market, the network saw another delay of the “difficulty bomb” at the start of December.The bomb was pushed to June next year following the implementation of the Arrow Glacier hard fork.
There hasn’t been a lot of activity involving the development of the Ethereum blockchain since, but it appears that the Ethereum core developers have got their stuff figured out.
Here is a breakdown of the major headlines around Ethereum this week:
Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is not switching sides anytime soon
Twitter co-founder and former chief executive Jack Dorsey once again professed his love for Bitcoin in a Twitter interaction this week.The technological entrepreneur and renowned blockchain enthusiast has not been shy to live up to his reputation as a Bitcoin proponent, often sharing his belief on the platform.
Following his resignation and exit from Twitter, many were eager to know where he would land and what sort of things he would be into now that he had spare time on his hands.Well, as it turns out, Dorsey can take up an interest in many new things, but Ethereum certainly isn’t among them.
On Tuesday, Twitter user cdixon.eth, a partner at a16z, shared a post saying he is a fan of Dorsey and would like to see the Block (formerly Square) boss check out Ethereum and other blockchains.
Not long after, Dorsey responded to the post, noting that his interest is only in technologies run on consensus from the people and not those managed by institutions.
The response affirming his belief in Bitcoin ruled out the immediate possibility of him taking an interest in any crypto coin but Bitcoin.
“It’s critical we focus our energy on truly secure and resilient technologies owned by the mass of people, not individuals or institutions.Only that foundation will provide for the applications you allude to,” he wrote.
Dorsey previously asserted that if need be, he would even step down from his role as the chief executive of payments firm Block to advocate for Bitcoin.
Though he hasn’t confirmed his next move, the former Twitter chief has become more active on Twitter.Most recently, Dorsey engaged in a conversation around cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and web 3.0 with fellow techprenuer and business magnate Elon Musk.
Microsoft director sees Ethereum becoming a decentralized app hub
Microsoft director of digital transformation Yorke Rhodes shared his view on Ethereum this week, noting that he is bullish on its adoption.Rhodes threw his weight behind the network, predicting that it would become a store for decentralized applications by 2023.
Ethereum has indeed established itself as a marketplace for web3 applications, and further adoption could see it cement its place even further.The network is currently home to almost 2,800 decentralized applications, according to data from the crypto app tracking platform State of the Dapps .
Difficulty bomb delayed to June, Ethereum 2.o in sight
The successful activation of the Arrow Glacier upgrade earlier this month meant that the Ethereum ‘difficult bomb’ was getting defused.This is the fourth time the bomb, a feature meant to increase the difficulty of solving puzzles in the proof-of-work mining mechanism, has been delayed.
The feature comes to play at a predefined block number and essentially makes mining unprofitable to disincentivize miners.The latest delay is so that Ethereum core developers can have enough time to transition the network to the proof of stake mechanism.Ethereum developers’ coordinator Tim Beiko and his team are confident to have the network merged to the new mining mechanism next year.
ETH Market Performance
ETH has retaken the $4000 level after what appeared to be a brief spell of dips over the last few days, most likely sparked off by the news arouund the Omicron variant.ETH/USD pair has cleared the $3950 and $3980 resistance zones, sending waves of optimism among holders.
The token briefly rose above $4,100 today but faced harsh rejection back to $4,070 as per data from coinmarketcap .
Crypto analysts contend that real test will be staying above $4,100 which has proven to be the immediate major resistance.Clearing this level will generate momentum for the pair to accelerate and settle on higher grounds in the near term.
Bulls will be eyeing $4,200 as the next near-term target if Ether manages to stay above $4,100.According to pseudonymous market analyst Pentosh1 , Ethereum has emerged from its seven-month consolidation phase and is looking to surge.
That said, a downside can’t be ruled out if bulls fail to keep up the momentum or lose ground to bears.This scenario will see ETH get rejected at $4,100 again, which could trigger another slump towards the key supports at $3,950 and $3,915 or even below..
