Ethereum And Cardano Post Major Gains Ahead Of Network Upgrades

 | Jun 02, 2020 01:18AM ET

Speculation around Ethereum and Cardano will surge as major network upgrades near completion.

h3 Key Takeaways/h3
  • Ethereum is trending up, but demand may rise further in anticipation of ETH 2.0.
  • Cardano is up 50% in the past week after its founder revealed that the Shelley upgrade should come out next month.
  • While some investors begin to FOMO, ETH and ADA could be preparing for a major upward price movement.

Ethereum and Cardano are scheduled to transition to new proof-of-stake consensus algorithms, igniting double-digit gains.

h2 Two Major Hard Forks Underway/h2

Ethereum and Cardano are scheduled to change their underlying consensus mechanisms. Both of these smart contracts platforms will transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to proof-of-stake (PoS). These algorithm changes will transform the crypto-economic incentives around validating transactions.

The launch of ETH 2.0 is scheduled for Q3 2020, while Cardano’s Shelley upgrade has been slated for Jun. 30.

As speculation mounts around the upcoming hard forks, demand for these cryptocurrencies is expected to rise. Those who want to earn staking rewards while these blockchains transition to PoS could further fuel the buying pressure.

“It’s hard to be bearish with Ethereum staking coming soon. I suspect there will be a lot more ether staked than the projected 10-30 million. Perhaps even 50 million-plus if a lot of people select to stake through exchanges/rocket pool,” said David Schwartz, a senior software engineer at decentralized exchange Nash.

Along the same lines, Mati Greenspan, founder at Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Economics, noted that the bullish sentiment behind Cardano has been building up. After looking at ADA’s social engagement metrics, Greenspan noticed a steady increase in the chatter about this altcoin since the beginning of the month.

Cardano recently saw over 12.4 million interactions across all social network platforms, which is the highest level seen since mid-February. Roughly 76% of all comments, replies, retweets, quotes, shares, and other metrics have been bullish about ADA, based on data from crypto insights provider LunarCRUSH.