Ethereum simply accomplished its Bellatrix improve, the final crucial milestone forward of its ETH 2.0 Merge. Builders have already claimed profitable operations nevertheless it wasn’t completely a easy sail.
The prevailing narrative after the Bellatrix improve is that it was a hit and that Ethereum is now prepared for the grand occasion. Nonetheless, early reviews reveal that Ethereum’s missed block fee soared greater than 9%.
Missed block fee within the final 600 slots: >9%
Traditionally this fee has been round ~0.5%. It reveals that Bellatrix induced some points for some validators. Nothing dramatic however nonetheless a quantity to regulate.— Martin Köppelmann ?? (@koeppelmann) September 6, 2022
A serious shift in Ethereum’s block fee means validators may take extra time verifying information. Such an final result may result in a slower efficiency as transaction verification would take longer. Thankfully, the block fee spike solely impacts a small fraction of Ethereum validators.
A large enough missed block fee can be symbolic of failure on the validator node degree and would have a probably catastrophic final result. For instance, it might erase some traders’ confidence and ship ETH on a downward spiral.
Christine Kim, a Galaxy HQ researcher famous that the validator disruptions have been behind the missed block fee spike.
Variety of offline validators did improve post-Bellatrix which is why we’re most likely seeing the rise in missed blocks. By missed blocks I imply slots the place a block was not proposed by a validator. Not main however suggests some validators nonetheless have to improve their nodes.
— Christine Kim (@christine_dkim) September 6, 2022
Calm waters forward?
Many of the validators managed to remain on-line and upgraded accordingly. Builders have been happy with the end result of the Bellatrix improve, though a small proportion didn’t handle to improve.
The developer’s confidence concerning the present trajectory of the Merge is as a result of validators can nonetheless improve earlier than the ultimate stage.
The prevailing sentiment is that the Bellatrix improve was a hit regardless of the minor hiccups.
That is additionally excellent news for ETH merchants as a result of the event didn’t yield any issues that might set off one other main selloff. Furthermore, the success fee up to now builds a stronger case for accumulating extra ETH forward of the Merge.
The king alt did register a large drop by 11.5% within the final two days. Nevertheless, this efficiency was associated to macroeconomic elements which have dampened traders’ sentiment.

Supply: TradingView
ETH merchants must also notice that ETH’s draw back has been restricted regardless of the present market headwinds.
It’s nonetheless buying and selling at greater than a 70% premium in comparison with its present 2022 lows. Maybe an indication that it’s dealing with the headwinds significantly better than anticipated, possible as a result of traders stay optimistic concerning the Merge.