As a show of support for the upcoming Ethereum Merge, tech behemoth Google has added a new countdown meter to its website.
When you type "Ethereum Merge" or "The Merge" into the search engine, you'll get a countdown ticker with the projected time remaining until the Merge depending on the current difficulty, hash rate, and merge difficulty.
Off to the side is a cartoon of two joyful pandas sprinting toward one other with their hands outstretched, apparently getting closer as the Merge date approaches.
In a Sept. 9 tweet, Google Cloud developer Sam Padilla said the timer was "a fun little surprise" and a way to express their thanks for "the labor that has been going into this for years."
He stated that the work was done by Google's search and laboratories teams, although he did "kickstart" the concept and conversation that led to the timer's implementation.
Padilla noted in the same article that the timer is directly connected to the blockchain and updates the countdown in real-time, stating: "The underlying data is getting pulled directly from the blockchain via some of the nodes we run."
"But you didn't hear that from me," he said, implying that pandas are getting closer as the Merge date near.
Google is becoming more active in the crypto area, forming a Web3 team under Google Cloud on May 6.
However, Google developers aren't the only ones keeping a close eye on the Merge.
According to recent Google search statistics, searches for the keyword "Ethereum Merge" earned a score above 50 numerous times in the previous 30 days, peaking at 100 on September 3.
A number of 100 indicates "highest popularity for the word," while a value of 50 indicates "half as popular." A score of 0 indicates that there was insufficient data for that day.
In the meanwhile, according to a recent CoinGecko analysis, Singapore is the country most interested in the impending Ethereum Merge, followed by Switzerland and Canada, Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands.
The total ranking was established by assessing the frequency of 10 search phrases, including "Ethereum Merge," "ETH Merge," and "Ethereum PoW," and then combining them.