EthereumETH

is up nearly 50% in the past month, outperforming BitcoinBTC

, up 15%. Investors are looking past the bankruptcies and instead focusing on the upcoming Merge…

What’s the big deal? We have a final timeline for the Merge — the highly anticipated upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain network.

• In July, Ethereum’s foundation member Tim Beiko suggested the week of September 19 as the Merge date — but has repeatedly noted that the date could change.
• Ethereum developers completed a test merge earlier this month — with one final test expected on August 11.

Whales have accumulated more Ethereum ahead of the Merge — bringing theirETH

balance to all-time highs. Here’s what Signum Managing Partner John Ng Pangilinan thinks (CoinDesk):

• Inflation and bankruptcies are priced in, and markets are focusing on the positives.
• He expects regulations to come for the industry — but doesn’t see it “dampening the markets.”

Mood killer: The stock market is still plagued by the interest rate and inflation story — seen as a barrier to a bigger rebound. The same issues are impacting the crypto market — except speculators are looking to the Merge to bring crypto prices out of their slump.

What happened in the last Ethereum upgrade?

• ETH
  jumped 60% in the three weeks leading up to the more minor London hard fork upgrade last August.
• Prices dipped post-upgrade but continued making new highs before peaking in November.

Inflation’s direction will likely impact prices in the coming months — but positive news in the market (i.e., inflation falling) could help send crypto prices higher.