ETHЦена Ethereum

"The Great Merge: What If Ethereum Had Stayed on PoW?" This article explores a counterfactual scenario: What if Ethereum had not transitioned from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in 2022? It examines the potential trade-offs of this historical decision. The key argument for a continued PoW path is the missed opportunity in the AI era. Ethereum's GPU miners, unlike Bitcoin's specialized ASICs, could have formed a massive, globally distributed computing network. This infrastructure might have evolved into a decentralized AI cloud, giving Ethereum a strategic position in the AI compute market. Critics argue the switch to PoS prematurely ended this possibility. However, sticking with PoW would have carried significant costs. PoS drastically reduced ETH's daily issuance and miner sell pressure, aiding its "digital gold" narrative and attracting institutional capital. PoW's higher, continuous inflation could have hindered price stability. Furthermore, PoS provides greater design flexibility for scaling solutions (like Rollups and data blobs) and aligns better with environmental (ESG) and regulatory concerns for mainstream finance adoption. In conclusion, the shift from PoW to PoS represented a fundamental strategic choice between two distinct paths: one potentially leading to a smart-contract-enabled "digital commodity" network with vast compute resources, and the other aiming to become a global, efficient settlement layer for the digital economy. The rise of AI has only made the road not taken more intriguing to contemplate.

The oldest "whales" of Ethereum are awakening as millions of tokens move from "deep storage." Similar to dormant Bitcoin wallets suddenly reactivating, early Ethereum coins, particularly "Genesis era" ETH from the network's July 2014 initial coin offering (ICO), are being transferred. In August 2026, two such wallets were detected. One moved 2,680 ETH (worth $5 million at the time) after the initial $830 investment grew enormously from the ICO price of $0.31 per ETH. Another moved 2,000 ETH ($3.8 million) to Coinbase on August 8; that stash was worth just $620 in 2015. This follows similar activity in July 2026, where two other Genesis-era wallets each moved 2,000 ETH to exchanges like Coinjar. These coordinated movements by holders who survived a decade of volatility raise questions about shared market signals or timing. Whether driven by estate planning, storage changes, or profit-taking, these actions are returning supposedly frozen supply to circulation, with 2026 increasingly appearing as the year some of Ethereum's earliest supporters are finally deciding to sell.

According to Tether's official data, as of August 13, 2026, the supply of USDT on the TRON network has increased by another $10 billion, reaching $91.2 billion. This has once again surpassed the USDT supply on the Ethereum network ($90.3 billion), making TRON the largest USDT issuance network globally. This milestone reinforces TRON's dominant position in the stablecoin sector and highlights the sustained appeal of its low-fee, high-efficiency settlement network for global stablecoin capital. The growth of TRC20-USDT is driven by genuine, sustainable demand. By August 2026, TRC20-USDT issuance on TRON exceeded $91.2 billion, with approximately 75.47 million holding accounts. TRON consistently handles about half of all global USDT transactions. Data shows TRON dominates in retail and small-to-medium value transfers, with its main use case being direct peer-to-peer value transfers for purposes like remittances, merchant payments, and freelance settlements. In Q1 2026 alone, TRON processed approximately $2.04 trillion in USDT transfer volume. TRON is also strengthening its infrastructure through broader ecosystem access, user experience improvements like GasFree mechanisms, and enhanced security governance. A key initiative is the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), a collaboration between TRON, Tether, and TRM Labs. By May 2026, T3 FCU had frozen over $450 million in illicit assets across 23 jurisdictions, demonstrating how blockchain transparency combined with public-private cooperation can improve response efficiency. Simultaneously, TRON is expanding into new frontiers like AI with the launch of B.AI, positioning it as financial infrastructure for the AI Agent era. This move signals TRON's evolution from the world's largest stablecoin settlement network toward becoming foundational infrastructure for the AI and Web3 economy. TRON's USDT competitiveness is thus transitioning from "volume accumulation" to "quality enhancement," focusing on optimizing performance, security, and accessibility for global digital value transfer.

On August 12th, Fidelity announced plans to introduce staking and quarterly cash dividends to its Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH). According to amended filings, the fund can stake up to 100% of its Ethereum holdings, with Fidelity retaining 85% of gross staking rewards. After covering operational expenses, the remaining net rewards will be distributed to investors as cash dividends. Fidelity may also sell some ETH to fund these payouts. FETH, with approximately $1.34 billion in assets under management (AUM), ranks fourth among U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs. It follows leaders like BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF ($7.21B AUM) and Grayscale's Ethereum Trust ETF ($3.46B AUM). This move aligns with a trend, as Grayscale and 21Shares have already added staking to their Ethereum products, while BlackRock launched a separate staked ETF. Currently, about 33% of Ethereum's supply is staked, yielding an annualized reward rate of roughly 2.6%. ETF net yields for investors are typically lower due to fees and the need to maintain liquidity buffers. For example, Grayscale's ETHE has a gross yield of 2.75% but a net yield of 2.11% after sponsor and custodian fees. Analysts estimate Fidelity's net yield for investors may fall between 1.5% and 2%. The introduction of staking rewards by major players like Fidelity is expected to intensify competition in the Ethereum ETF market, potentially drawing assets away from smaller funds that lack this feature. The market is already highly concentrated, with the top five Ethereum ETFs holding over 98% of the total AUM. This trend mirrors the Bitcoin ETF market, where smaller funds like Hashdex's DEFI have faced liquidation due to insufficient scale.

A major market maker, GSR, has significantly adjusted its model portfolio by reducing its Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) holdings while increasing its allocation to Solana (SOL). The portfolio's allocation to SOL has risen to 43.7%, surpassing ETH, which decreased to 39.5%. BTC's share dropped to 16.9%, its lowest level in the portfolio. GSR cited Solana's stronger relative upward momentum as the reason for the reallocation. However, the firm noted that despite the reduction, Ethereum maintained the highest 30-day returns among the three assets. The decrease in Bitcoin's allocation was attributed to its underperformance relative to both ETH and SOL, coupled with weak long-term trading activity. The market maker also observed that BTC, ETH, and SOL are currently exhibiting unusually low volatility, with markets trading in narrow ranges. GSR emphasized that the model portfolio adjustment reflects a shift in short-term signals toward Solana, while acknowledging a decline in its 7-day and 30-day trading volume.