Ahead of the Ethereum Merge, Google is celebrating with an Easter egg found on its search page. Here’s how you can find it and why Google implemented it.
What Happened: Search engine giant Google, a unit of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), is sharing details of the Ethereum Merge and counting down the time for the highly anticipated event for Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
The Merge will change Ethereum from a proof-of-work cryptocurrency to a proof-of-stake cryptocurrency, a move that is said to use less energy.
The Google search for “Ethereum merge” shows off a countdown clock (2 days, 11 hours, 40 minutes) at the time of writing, putting the event in the early hours of Thursday, Sept. 15.
Along with a countdown, Google is showing the difficulty rate, hash rate and the Merge difficulty.
A cartoon of two happy bears is also shown, an image that will change over time, as reported by Decrypt. A panda, which is the mascot for the Ethereum Merge, will be created as the two bears join together.
“The search team ran with it and made it happen incredibly fast,” Google Web3 Customer Engineer Sam Padilla told Decrypt. “More recognition should be going to the teams who made this happen.”
Padilla said the idea was created by some Google employees who wanted to integrate a “cool Easter egg” referencing the Ethereum Merge.
Related Link: What Is The Ethereum Merge
Why It’s Important: Seen as one of the biggest events in cryptocurrency for 2022, the Ethereum Merge could change the outlook of cryptocurrency going forward.
Ethereum has often been used and cited as a network for leading companies and NFTs, but also faced pushback for its high energy usage.
Alphabet has been one of the biggest investors in the Web3 space, acquiring companies in the sector and placing investments in many emerging brands in the space.
The Easter egg by Google is the latest in big companies highlighting big events in the world of cryptocurrency and potentially validating their longevity and use cases.
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
ETH Price Action: Ethereum trades at $1,726.51 at the time of writing, up over 9% in the last seven days.Photo: Ethereum Merge art, not the Google Easter egg, via Shutterstock
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