As a show of support for the upcoming Ethereum Merge, tech behemoth Google has added a new countdown timer to its website.
Google added a countdown whenever you search for “The Merge” or “Ethereum Merge” in its SERP
When you type “Ethereum Merge” or “The Merge” into the search engine, you’ll see a countdown ticker with the estimated time remaining until the Merge based on the current difficulty, hash rate, and merge difficulty.
Off to the side is a cartoon of two happy pandas running with their hands outstretched, supposedly getting closer as the Merge date approaches. In a Friday tweet, Google Cloud developer Sam Padilla said the timer was “a fun little surprise” and a way to show their appreciation for “the work that has been going into this for years.”
He stated that the work was done by Google’s search and labs teams, but he did “kickstart” the idea and discussion that led to the timer’s implementation. Padilla explained in the same post that the timer is directly connected to the blockchain and updates the countdown in real-time, stating:
“Some nodes we run pull the underlying data directly from the blockchain.” He also hinted that pandas are getting closer as the Merge date approaches but said in jest, “But you didn’t hear that from me.”
Google is becoming more involved in crypto, establishing a Web3 team under Google Cloud on May 6. However, Google developers aren’t the only ones keeping a close eye on the Merge. According to recent Google search data, searches for the term “Ethereum Merge” generated a score above 50 several times in the last 30 days, peaking at 100 on September 3.
A value of 100 indicates “peak popularity for the term,” whereas a value of 50 means “half as popular.” A score of 0 indicates that there was insufficient data for that day. In the meantime, according to a recent CoinGecko report, Singapore is the country most interested in the upcoming Ethereum Merge, followed by Switzerland and Canada, Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands.
The overall ranking was determined by analyzing the frequency of ten search terms, including “Ethereum Merge,” “ETH Merge,” and “Ethereum PoW,” and then combining them.
