The bitcoin price has again dropped under the closely watched $20,000 per bitcoin level while the ethereum price remains more than 60% down from its all-time highs (despite a Binance bombshell).
Now, one independent bitcoin and crypto researcher has warned of a looming bitcoin price crash that could follow ethereum's "merge" transition to the energy-efficient proof-of-stake—on top of a potential September "black swan" event.
"The ethereum [upgrade] isn't just about ethereum," Kyle McDonald told Coindesk. "I think after the merge, investors and regulators are going to realise that [bitcoin's] proof-of-work was never really necessary and we're slowly going to see a huge crash in the bitcoin price."
The bitcoin price surged to an all-time high of almost $70,000 late last year but has crashed back along with technology stocks that had soared through the covid-era of record low interest rates and monetary stimulus measures.
"Bitcoin will never hit $69,000 again; now's a great time to sell all your bitcoin," McDonald added, pointing to the "climate crisis" that's potentially being exacerbated by bitcoin's huge energy demands. "Bitcoin doesn’t have the coordination like ethereum to leave proof-of-work."
Ethereum's transition to proof-of-stake could reduce the blockchain network's carbon emissions by 99%, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The switch, due to get underway this week before being completed between September 10 and September 20, will mean the ethereum network is secured and transactions confirmed by ethereum holders "staking" their coins instead of relying on so-called miners.
McDonald predicts "bitcoin will probably be the first to be regulated away" as a result of its reliance on the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Others have previously suggested regulators could target proof-of-work blockchains such as bitcoin due to its energy demands.
Last year, Sweden’s financial and environmental regulators called on the European Union to ban proof-of-work bitcoin and crypto mining due to its environmental impacts.
"[Bitcoin] is not a reasonable use of our renewable energy," the directors of Sweden's top financial and environmental regulators wrote in an open letter.