beincrypto.com
According to on-chain analytics, around 60% of all Ethereum coins have not been moved for over a year as anticipation for the long-awaited ETH 2.0 launch builds.
The bullish metric has been observed by ETHhub founder Anthony Sassano who commented on a Glassnode ETH ‘Hodl Wave’ chart.
He added that it will be interesting to see if this metric changes once Phase 0, also known as ‘Beacon Chain,’ is launched and holders start staking their stashes.
The chart has been trending upwards since the end of 2018 when Ethereum prices dumped to a 19-month low of just below $85. For the past 20 months, crypto investors have been slowly accumulating as prices rebounded to top a two-year high of $480 at the beginning of September.
There was a major correction alongside the rest of the cryptocurrency markets in March 2020, but the figures do indicate that over half of Ethereum investors are still holding the asset.
CFTC Chairman, Heath Tarbert, added to the bullish sentiment with this comment in an interview with CoinDesk, “Let me just basically say how impressed I am by Ethereum, full stop, period.”
ETH 2.0 Testnet Update
The Medalla ETH 2.0 testnet has been running smoothly for two and a half months now following a few early glitches in mid-August. Today, there are over 2.3 million staked Göerli testnet ETH (GöETH), though there appears to have been a validator glitch according to the analytics dashboard beaconcha.in.
Following a previous testnet called Spadina, another short testnet dubbed Zinken was launched Oct 13 with the primary goal of emulating the genesis process. At the time of press, over 150,000 GöETH were staked by 4,720 validators testing the network.
Zinken is the last stage of Phase 0 testing according to Jimmy Ragosa from ConsenSys who, earlier this week, stated;
“The last testnet for ETH2 Phase 0 was Zinken and that it was successful, we are just waiting for the mainnet deposit contract and a genesis date now.”
To launch in its finality, the network needs to have over 16,000 validators and 500,000 ETH deposited on the Ethereum 2.0 blockchain.
Price Outlook
Ethereum prices have retreated marginally on the day following a local high of $395 Oct 12.
At the time of press, ETH was trading hands for $379 and has held on to gains made over the past week, a sign that the bullish momentum could continue. Many investors are hoping that when ETH 2.0 mainnet launch dates are announced, prices will start to surge again.