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The Ethereum ETH/USD Merge may not be as highly anticipated by newer members of the cryptocurrency space, based on the network’s decline in user activity.
What Happened: “While it is now significantly more affordable to use Ethereum, user demand is lagging now that much of the speculation has left,” wrote IntoTheBlock’s head of research Lucas Outumoro in a report on Tuesday.
Outumoro noted that this lower level of network activity is a common pattern in previous bear markets. Even Ethereum’s gas fees hitting two-year lows has not managed to attract more users to the network, he said.
“At these fee levels, Ether would be inflationary even following the merge’s 90% issuance reduction. The lack of new entrants is likely a key reason for this low demand regime,” noted the analyst.
He found that the Merge excitement is not as appealing to new users as it is to members of the crypto community who have been around for longer. This can be seen by the number of new addresses created on ETH reaching its lowest level since 2020 and the fact that people buying ETH on centralized exchanges are typically older addresses.
“Therefore, even though there may be some buying from new entrants, the lack of new addresses on-chain shows demand to use the blockchain is declining,” he said.
The analyst also found that relatively few people are searching for ETH despite the upcoming milestone Merge event. This could signal that crypto-natives are more closely anticipating the event while people outside the industry are still largely unaware, he said.
See Also: Vitalik Buterin Issues This Important Reminder Before Ethereum Merge
Price Action: At press time, ETH was trading at $1,523, up 0.48% over the last 24 hours, as per data from Benzinga Pro.
Illustration by Creativa Images on Shutterstock
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Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.