Ethereum won plaudits and the spotlight two weeks ago for smoothly pushing through its much-hyped Merge, a historic shift to a different “proof-of-stake” blockchain system designed to drastically reduce energy consumption – roughly 99% by some estimates.

Now, the second-biggest blockchain appears to be proving itself on another promise of the Merge: greater inflation-resistance, a characteristic that’s usually more closely associated with Ethereum’s bigger and better-known rival, Bitcoin.

In the days since the Merge, the annualized net issuance rate of Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, ether (ETH), has fallen to a range of 0% to 0.7%, estimates Lucas Outumuro, head of research at crypto data and analysis firm IntoTheBlock.

In a world where central banks worldwide are struggling to contain inflation – in the face of trillions of dollars of money-printing and severe supply-chain bottlenecks – Ethereum’s reduced issuance rate might help to bolster its appeal among investor in crypto and traditional markets alike.

“The level of new tokens coming onto the network has substantially reduced.” Simon Peters, a market analyst at the trading firm eToro, wrote in a note Monday.

After the Merge, mining rewards disappeared, and staking rewards would theoretically amount to around 1,600 ETH per day – for a 90% drop in new issuance.

The ether price slid about 5% in the past 30 days, trading just above $1,300 Tuesday as the broader macroeconomic environment has been struggling with high market volatility.