The Technical Side of the Argument
The highly touted upgrade bears a technical designation of EIP-4844, more commonly known as Protodanksharding, and represents a more efficient version of Dankshardings, the method that makes Ethereum a scalable blockchain. Protodanksharding is a way for rollups to add cheaper data to blocks and scale the network up to over 100,000 transactions per second.
Compared to the original sharding technique, Protodanksharding will introduce data blobs that can handle greater data capacity, and the data in these blobs is deleted automatically after a fixed time. The result is cheaper transactions for end users.
The J.P. Morgan analysts claim the upgrade is advantageous to Layer 2 networks by creating extra temporary data space and reducing transaction fees on Ethereum. In a nutshell, data blobs will enhance the productivity of Layer 2 networks without changing the size of an Ethereum.
Crypto Optimism or Fair Assessment
J.P. Morgan analysts are not convinced that recent bullish Bitcoin trends are sustainable. They believe that crypto is not experiencing an influx of fresh capital. According to them, the current situation is fueled by redistributing funds from other digital assets.
Another reason for increased interest in Bitcoin is the halving event on the calendar for April 2024, which will cause a rise in price after a reduction of supply. In their evaluation, the J.P. Morgan analysts have considered the quadrennial event and think Bitcoin will not rally post-halving.
Their analysis is partly based on historical trends and points to the 2020 halving as an example, when the market price and production cost decreased, with a similar development expected for 2024. Ethereum can be well poised to compete with Bitcoin on a more equal market footing in 2024, especially if the proposed regulatory and legal framework progresses in a favorable direction.