The Ethereum merge has raked up quite an attention and the latest to join the bandwagon is the world’s most widely used site Google. Search results with Ethereum display a count down timer, the difficulty, the hash rate, and a cartoon of two happy bears reaching out for an embrace.
The two bears likely represented the execution and the consensus layers and will move closer as the time approaches the merge date. The action reflects the growing interest in crypto among big businesses.
Google Cloud’s web3 engineer Sam Padilla who led the development of the merge integration into the search engine giant, first dropped the news in a tweet addressing Eth founder Vitalik Beuterin, and researcher Justin drake.
Hey Vitalik Buterin, drakefjustin & other ethereum folks, go google “the merge” for a fun little surprise & appreciation. Everyone is so excited about what is coming and appreciative of the work that has been going into this for years.
In response to Sassal, Padilla explained that he initiated the idea in a company-wide Web3 community talk and the “search and labs team internally” built out the search feature.
The developer also revealed the data is being pulled in real-time directly from Ethereum’s network using some of the nodes hosted by Google.
According to Padilla, the concept was developed by Google engineers just a few weeks ago who wanted to make “some amazing easter eggs” in preparation for Ethereum’s impending switch from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
At the time of writing, the Merge is expected to go live in exactly 2 days 20 hrs.
Meanwhile, opportunistic crypto scammers are seeking to take advantage of the excitement around the event.
Scammers Exploit Ethereum Merge Hype
A recent Ethereum [ETH] giveaway hoax was promoted using the official Twitter account of KMFM, a radio station based in the South East England county of Kent. Vitalik Buterin was used as the imposter.
Several additional verified Twitter accounts have been hacked in the last week with a focus on the Ethereum community. In mid-august, Buterin issued a warning saying that Instagram has been flooded by scammers with fake profiles under his name and face.
Users are advised to exercise caution and avoid falling for traps as there would be no such giveaways or airdrops in conjunction with the upgrade.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, complained earlier this month about Twitter bots pretending to be Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, in order to deceive unsuspecting consumers.