Google Has Launched An Ethereum Merge Countdown Timer

Search engine giant Google is all aboard on the Ethereum Merge hype, sustaining a keen interest on the matter. In support of the upcoming Ethereum Merge, the tech firm has launched an easter egg in the time of a countdown timer for the merge.

The easter egg appears whenever a user searches for the term “Ethereum Merge” and other correlated search terms. For the past 30 days, search data for the Ethereum blockchain’s upcoming merge has been trending with a consistent trend score averaging over 50. The countdown ticker displays the estimated time left until the merge, with data on the current algorithmic difficulty, hashrate, and merge difficulty. The timer also features an image of two cartoon pandas each holding an object resembling Ethereum’s logo. According to its developers, the image of the cartoon pandas will grow closer and coincide with the merge.

This move by Google is a significant show of support for the Ethereum Merge. It comes at a time when crypto prices have been volatile, and investors are eagerly anticipating the next big thing in the crypto space. The Ethereum Merge has been highly anticipated by the crypto community, and it is good to see that Google is on board with the hype. At the time of writing, the merge difficulty for Ethereum is rated at 58750000 P, with a hash rate of 857 TH/s. The current layered difficulty is at 58524036 P. Sam Padilla, a Google developer working for the firm’s Web3 team, revealed the easter egg via a Tweet to Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum’s core developers:

Hey @VitalikButerin @drakefjustin & other @ethereum folks, go google “the merge” for a fun little surprise & appreciation.

Everyone is so excited for what is coming and appreciative of the work that has been going into this for years. pic.twitter.com/3bgifV6Ywn

— Sam Padilla (@theSamPadilla) September 9, 2022

Touting the gesture as a “fun little surprise” for Ethereum’s followers and developers, Padilla says that it was Google’s way of showing appreciation for “the work that has been going into this for years.” According to Padilla, the timer was made by Google’s search and labs team. Padilla has also disclosed that the timer itself was connected to the Ethereum blockchain itself as a Web3 analytics app, with real-time updates through nodes that are run by Google.

Google’s increasing involvement in Web3 and crypto has led to the firm’s establishment of its own Web3 team, alongside the launch of a malware-detection algorithm for its Google Cloud services. In recent news, Sky Mavis, the development studio behind popular Web3 game Axie Infinity, has forged a partnership with Google Cloud to tighten its node integrations and security for the Ronin blockchain.

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