The Ethereum merger has finally taken place, marking a significant step forward for the crypto world.

Dubbed “the merge,” the process resulted in the Ethereum Mainnet merging with the Beacon Chain proof-of-stake system, a process that reduced transaction costs and reduced Ethereum’s energy consumption by 99.95 percent.

“Happy merging everyone,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted.

Hailing this “historic moment”, deVere Group's Nigel Green said: “This far-reaching overhaul of the most commercially important blockchain in the digital asset ecosystem is perhaps the most important, landmark event in crypto history since the launch of Bitcoin. "

Mr Green is confident this event will boost prices across the market.

"While some of the news has already been priced in, make no mistake: this event will be a major catalyst that will push prices higher in the long term," he said.

According to Mr. Green, the reduction in energy consumption will make Ethereum a "significantly more attractive" crypto for institutional investors.

"Those institutional investors who have been sitting on the sidelines are now likely to move in," he said.

"In addition to having a more positive impact on the climate, the effect of the merger to reduce supply, cut costs and speed up transactions will also appeal to both individuals and institutions."

Kraken's managing director for Australia, Jonathan Miller, also welcomed the news on Thursday, pointing to the environmental benefits.

"By removing the need for miners to burn energy to demonstrate that value has been spent, the grid's energy consumption and environmental impact is dramatically reduced," Mr Miller said.

However, he cautioned that "this will not be a magic bullet for Ethereum's scaling problems."

"Australian blockchain businesses will still need to rely on layer 2 solutions to grow," Mr Miller said.

“Having said that, the merger will allow the creation of mechanisms to build improvements in the scalability of the network. Ethereum provides critical infrastructure for blockchain developers to build and deploy their own decentralized applications and crypto-assets.”

"The merger - which is potentially one of many changes to the network - will unlock a whole new level of potential for the deployment of these innovations," Mr Miller concluded.

Maja Garatsa Djurdjevic

Maya's career in journalism spans more than a decade in finance, business and politics. Now an experienced editor and reporter in all elements of the financial services sector, before joining Momentum Media, Maya reported for several established news outlets in South East Europe, looking at key processes in post-conflict societies.