Is Ethereum 2.0 Ready For the Bull Run?

The initial stage of Ethereum 2.0 is set to start in a few months, with many experts arguing that it may be the catalyst for a huge industry bull run. Adam Cochran, a partner at MetaCartel Ventures DAO, released a blog which outlined why he believes Ethereum 2.0 “could prove to be the largest economic shift in society.” So, is Ethereum 2.0 ready for the bull run?

Ethereum 2.0 bull run could transform the industry

While his initial statement might seem slightly farfetched, Cochran goes on to outline his other predictions. He argues that moving Ethereum into staking could trigger an ETH supply shock. Cochran noted that dependable staking rewards between 3% to 5% could bring in capital from major investors, locking up roughly 30% of ETH’s total supply. Then, an impending burn mechanism will reportedly contribute to the falling supply of ETH available.

Cochran believes that this supply shock will trigger FOMO (fear of missing out) in retail traders, who will try to get into the market as quickly as possible. It’ll be even easier than the December 2017 bull run, because buying crypto with fiat is more accessible than ever (thanks to exchanges and trading platforms like eToro).

Cochran noted that with no stop-gap, users will be able to “FOMO” concurrently. Really all that is needed to drive a buying frenzy is a single headline about ETH growth, and retail traders will cause a stir.

Nevermind price growth, Ethereum 2.0 will alter the finance industry forever

Alex Batlin, founder and CEO of Trustology, highlighted that Etheruem 2.0 will have ripple effects that go beyond simple price growth. Batlin highlighted Ethereum 2.0’s improved scalability, which could be used to support the adoption of DeFi by the general population.

“For DeFi to really work, we need to get from twenty to one thousand to maybe a couple of thousand transactions per minute, and then we start to get really serious. And ETH 2.0 is getting there. If you look at the specs, it’s pretty exciting.” 

Should Ethereum 2.0 maintain its current path, Batlin argued that decentralized finance could eventually be the main protocol that finance functions on.

Whales are accumulating Ether

So, is Ethereum 2.0 ready for the bull run? Whales seem to think so. Trade volumes have risen to record highs on a number of dates over the last year. The price is up at the moment, but still remains below its year-to-date high.

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Ethereum 2.0 will launch this year and could trigger a bull run

So, realistically, is Ethereum 2.0 ready for a bull run? According to two experts, Ethereum 2.0 is ready for some major bull action and could change the industry forever. However, Vitalik Buterin has laid out a multi-year roadmap for the protocol’s complete deployment, so these changes could take a fair amount of time to actually see.

Disclaimer

This article is contributed by authors who wish to stay anonymous.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the view of Blockchain.News.

Ethereum Hits Major Bullish Milestones in Anticipation of the ETH 2.0 Staking Upgrade

Ethereum wallets containing 32 more or more ETH, the amount needed to stake a validator node under the upcoming ETH 2.0 upgrade has hit an all-time high.

The number of Ethereum network balances with 32 ETH or more has been nearing 120,000, in anticipation of the proposed ETH 2.0 update. Validating nodes will be replacing miners in the current proof-of-work system to validate transactions to maintain the Ethereum blockchain.

Over the year, the number of wallets holding at least 32 ETH has risen around 15 percent, according to Nansen AI. Although the ETH 2.0 upgrade has been delayed several times, the major upgrade is expected to be deployed in July. 

Ethereum network fees surpassed Bitcoin for the second time in 2020

Ethereum daily network fees have surpassed those of the Bitcoin network for the second time this year. On June 6, on-chain analysis data showed that the total amount of fees spent on the Ethereum network totaled $498,000, while Bitcoin’s total was at $308,000. 

The next day, the gap continued its trend, widening to $540,000 and $258,000. Many crypto users suggested Ethereum “flippening” is happening, a term to describe other cryptocurrencies overtaking Bitcoin in value. The crypto community on Twitter went on to call this the “feepening.”

Ethereum addresses hit 100 million

Five years after the initial release of the Ethereum network, the number of ETH addresses/ accounts have reached 100 million in early June. 

Although there are over 100 million addresses, this does not necessarily mean that there are 100 million people owning or using the cryptocurrency.

Vitalik Buterin says layer 2 scaling strategy has ‘basically succeeded’

Ethereum has been seeing an upward trend, and demand may increase further in anticipation of the upcoming ETH 2.0 update expected in Q3 2020.

Ethereum is scheduled to undergo a major change of its consensus mechanism, transitioning from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). 

Ethereum has been expecting its scaling to occur for some time, and according to Ethereum’s creator, Vitalik Buterin, it could already be happening.

Vitalik Buterin recently tweeted that the Ethereum blockchain network’s “layer 2 strategy has basically succeeded.”

Previously, Buterin identified blockchain scalability has a difficulty for typical blockchain designs because it requires every node in the network to process every transaction, limiting the transaction processing capacity of the entire system.

To solve the scalability issue, the Ethereum creator identified strategies for scaling, including sharding, also known as the “layer 2 protocols,” which allows transactions to go through without every node processing the whole transaction.

Cause for Concern? Ethereum's 15 Minutes of Extreme Volatility Explained

Ethereum’s price on the crypto market underwent a lot of fluctuations in the span of 15 minutes yesterday, causing quite a stir in the crypto community. 

Market Experts on Ethereum

Across major coin exchanges, such as Binance Futures, Ethereum (ETH) peaked at $418, but within 5 minutes, it dropped by 25%. Eventually, it climbed back to $385 within a 10-minute span.  

The reason behind ETH’s price fluctuations has been speculated upon by market experts, who are saying that the $410 to $420 range has always been a historical resistance area since 2017. Also, the sudden 25% drop of ETH led to a cascade of futures liquidations across major crypto exchanges and extreme movement for Ethereum.

Ethereum Has Big Plans for The Future

Global markets analyst Alex Krüger commented on Ethereum’s price fluctuation and said that though ETH underwent a “blowoff top” of 25%, a blowoff doesn’t have to be “the top”, meaning that Ethereum’s market value may still escalate further.  Despite the digital asset’s sudden market correction, a lot of crypto investors still remain positive about the blockchain ecosystem’s outlook.

With the launch of ETH 2.0 testnet set for August 4, much is to be anticipated of Ethereum. Kelvin Koh, co-founder of cryptocurrency venture capital firm Spartan Black, stands by the belief that ETH is leading the crypto market’s uptrend.  With the launch of ETH 2.0 testnet’s first phase, there is much to be expected of the blockchain ecosystem. Koh added: 

“Depending on how hard ETH runs, the successful launch of phase 0 may culminate in a near term peak for ETH and other large caps.” 

Ethereum Introduces Testnet Medalla

As Ethereum is transitioning from a Proof-of-Work format to a Proof-of-Stake, Ethereum 2.0, dubbed “Medalla” will be launched in at least 3 phases, the first being phase 0. Ethereum hopes that by separating the testing in phases, aspects of the new blockchain can be covered methodically and perfected before release.  

Phases 0, 1, and 2 each outlines a different concept. Phases 0 focuses on all the machinery behind ETH 2.0’s consensus, and it tracks the validators and their transaction balances.  Phase 1’s main objective is to handle the addition and storage of new and old data associated with ETH 2.0.  Finally, Phase 2 adds execution to ETH 2.0, and it enables programs to be run on top of it. 

Ethereum Dominates The DeFi Scene

Ethereum Foundation has come a long way since its beginning, with new projects such as ETH 2.0 in the horizon. Last Thursday marked the anniversary of Ethereum’s official network launch. The blockchain ecosystem has since expanded its growth, with it currently holding the majority of DeFi applications run on a blockchain. As the pioneer of DeFI applications and with their rising popularity, Ethereum seems to be having a pretty good bull run this year, despite its setback on the crypto market on August 2. 

The new multi-client testnet that Ethereum has been planning for quite some time is set to launch on August 4, at 1 pm UTC. However, all pre-launch criteria must be met beforehand. 

Ethereum Launches ETH 2.0 Multiclient Testnet – Medalla

Ethereum software developers proudly launched the Ethereum 2.0 multiclient testnet, Medalla – the next step on the road to pure Proof-of-Stake.

One Step Closer to ETH 2.0 Mainnet

As promised, Ethereum launched on August 4, at 1 pm UTC. Ethereum enthusiasts have been anticipating the official release of the testnet since Ethereum software developers have announced that Medalla was in the works and will be the last trial blockchain launched before Ethereum 2.0 mainnet comes into play.  

Medalla: A Community Project 

Ethereum is hoping to transition to a Proof-of-Stake rather than a Proof-of-Work format with Medalla testnet, meaning that block mining will depend on how much an individual has staked. Another key feature of Medalla that Ethereum proudly announced was that the testnet is almost entirely in the hands of the community, meaning the stability and health of the multiclient blockchain will mostly depend on Ethereum validators’ participation. Those who mine on Medalla will reap the rewards of a transaction fee.  

Ethereum’s Bull Run 

It has been a rewarding year for Ethereum, to say the least. The blockchain ecosystem recently celebrated its 5-year anniversary last week, and they have come a long way since. Five years ago, when the genesis block was first mined into existence on the network, few people outside of the industry had ever heard of Ethereum blockchain.  

Now, fast forward to five years later, Ethereum has been making headlines for quite awhile, recently undergoing a flash crash on the crypto market, before steadying back at around $385. Ethereum’s cryptocurrency Ether is the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, trading around $385 at the time of writing. The blockchain ecosystem has also been dominant in the decentralized finance (DeFi) scene, as it is reputed to have the most DeFi applications run on a blockchain, leveraging smart contracts rather than an intermediary. 

Ethereum 2.0 Finally Launched 

Ethereum programmer Hudson Jameson announced that “Eth 2.0 is a success, it is going really well right now” and hopes that the transition from Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0 mainnet will be smooth.  

As developers went live on Ethereum Foundation’s YouTube stream to discuss the launch, it seemed that the only cause for concern were that they were seeing lower participation levels from the validators than expected. However, Ethereum software developers stood by the fact that it was just temporary, and that crypto enthusiasts should not jump to conclusions on that aspect. One Ethereum executive said: 

“Low participation is just temporary; we will get through this. We have genesis, we have a chain running and resilience built into the protocol. We have an opportunity for the protocol to demonstrate what it can do, which is to recover from low participation from validators.” 

Ethereum CEO Vitalik Buterin Pushes for Phase 1

Co-founder and CEO of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, had previously commented on his blockchain project, and expressed his wishes to see phase 1 of Medalla testnet initiated as soon as possible. Though phase 0 is still mature and being perfected at the time of writing, Buterin said that phase 1 was all about “spec optimization and development, and that there was no unfinished research required for it.”

Medalla Team Hunts for Cybersecurity Talent 

To finish off the live launch, Ethereum developers said that that updates on the progress of Medalla blockchain will be provided on Ethereum’s Reddit account. With Ethereum Foundation doing everything they can to perfect ETH 2.0, Ethereum has also recently announced that it was looking to build a cybersecurity team dedicated to maintaining the ETH 2.0.

Ethereum Price Set to See Higher Gains as ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain Genesis Expected Soon

Ethereum’s price has been boosted in 2020 due to the decentralized finance (DeFi) craze. As the ETH 2.0 beacon chain genesis is coming to fruition soon, it could be a catalyst for Ethereum’s price surge.

Ethereum’s (ETH) price has gained around 170 percent this year, from under $140 to the $380 levels, which ETH is currently trading at. With the decentralized finance sector locking up over $11 billion in cryptocurrencies, Ethereum’s price has benefited from this surge.

9 million ETH has been locked up across different DeFi protocols, which is around 8 percent of its entire supply. 

ConsenSys developer Ben Edgington recently published an update predicting that the ETH 2.0 beacon chain genesis will be expected in the next six to eight weeks. Edgington revealed in a post that the protocol’s deposit contract address feature will be announced this week. This contract enables ETH to be sent between Ethereum and ETH 2.0, one of the remaining steps of the ETH 2.0 phase 0 roll-out. 

With the phase 0 launch, 500,000 Ether would need to be locked for staking after the beacon chain goes live, and there would also be a week-long genesis delay for the network to prepare. The release will strengthen the Ethereum network against denial-of-service attacks. 

Although the participation on the Medalla testnet was not as popular as expected, ConsenSys developer Ben Edgington said that the case for the Beacon chain would not likely to be the same as it delivers real staking rewards. He explained:

“To be fair, I don’t expect this situation to arise on a network with real value at stake. People will be working hard to keep the network finalising. It’s exactly why we need to move on from the testnets now.”

The crypto community have been speculating that this event is an accumulation phase for Ethereum, with on-chain metrics showing that a large amount of ETH has not been moved for over a year, possibly in anticipation of the Phase 0 launch. Sharing a graph of Ethereum’s accumulation phase on Twitter, a crypto community member posted:

“I would not bet against #ETH over the long-term. Sure, #Bitcoin will outperform #Ethereum at certain times, but I anticipate the ROI being higher for Ethereum.”

Although an exact date for the ETH 2.0 genesis date has not been set yet, the announcement for its launch could take Ethereum higher towards the $400 level.

Ethereum’s Bull Run to Continue as Massive Balance of Ether Moved Off of Exchanges for ETH 2.0 Staking

As Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 is nearing its launch, many in the Ethereum community have flocked to support its deposit contract, locking up more than $13 million of Ether in the network in 24 hours. Ethereum’s price has also responded to the recent support of the community and surged by over 7 percent in the past 24 hours. 

Ethereum’s price was lagging behind Bitcoin’s bull run for the past few weeks, as Bitcoin’s price surged past resistance level after resistance level, now trading at $15,704 at press time. Ethereum managed to gain over 12 percent in the past week and is currently trading at $434.21. Ethereum’s price could continue to climb as adoption and lock up in DeFi and deposit contracts continue to accumulate. 

Over $14.5 million in ETH deposited

Ethereum 2.0, is the next generation version of the blockchain network, allowing users to be able to stake their Ether.

Recently, in preparation for the ETH 2.0 Phase 0 launch, which is expected for Dec. 1, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract was released. The Ethereum Foundation explained that stakers on the Ethereum network can now deposit their 32 Ether deposits to the contract.

However, the contract must collect a total of 524,288 ETH, in order to proceed with the launch. Yesterday, Blockchain.News reported that within the first two hours of the deposit contract release, $2,000,000 of ETH were already locked up. 

The required amount of ETH must be collected a week before the expected launch date, which is Dec. 1. If this is not achieved, then the launch would be delayed to seven days after the threshold has been reached.

Within 24 hours of the launch of the deposit contract, more than $13,000,000 of Ether has already been locked, according to the deposit address “0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa”  shown on Etherscan. As of press time, the address shows that over $14.5 million of Ether has been deposited, with the balance of 33,446 Ether. 

Massive balance of ETH moved off of Binance

Of the 33,446 Ether deposited on the network, around $1.3 million in ETH was contributed by Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin, according to data from Etherscan. 

As Ethereum has been pouring in for staking, a large amount of Ethereum has been moved off from the Binance cryptocurrency exchange since the deposit contract was released. Crypto analyst Pentoshi recently explained:

“258k $ETH moved off Binance in the last 24 hours. Almost 10% of what Binance had in it’s wallets. Let’s make it another 10%. Sell side liquidity crisis coming in a few months. Where will you get Eth when it’s all locked in smart contracts and DeFi? Are you forward thinking?”

With the amount of Ethereum being locked up in the deposit contract and in the DeFi industry, Ethereum’s price could keep surging as adoption increases for the cryptocurrency. 

Another crypto analyst commented on Ethereum’s latest bull run, saying:

“The $ETH run to $800 is about to start.”

Yearn.finance Proposal to Create ETH 2.0 Validator Vault Could be a Game-Changer for Staking

Ethereum developers have recently announced the launch of ETH 2.0, expected on Dec. 1. Retail investors could soon have the opportunity to earn on ETH 2.0 if a proposal on Ethereum 2.0 validator vault on Yearn.finance passes. 

Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 is expected on Dec. 1, and the ETH community has already begun staking ETH via deposit contracts. The contract requires 524,288 ETH in order to proceed with the launch. If the required amount has not been reached a week before the launch date, the launch will then be delayed to seven days after the threshold has been reached.

So far, 50,273 Ether has been deposited, worth around $22.3 million. In order to attract more ETH stakers, the Yearn governance community has proposed an ETH 2.0 validator vault. 

This vault would enable staking rewards for investors via liquidity provider (LP) tokens. When investors deposit an amount of ETH to these vaults, they would receive the same amount in yBETH in return, Yearn’s beacon Ethereum pool token.

The proposed ETH 2.0 validator vault works in a similar way to a mining pool on the proof-of-work network, where hash rates are pooled together. This process would allow retail investors to deposit ETH in smaller amounts, while still being able to participate in staking.

Ahead of Ethereum’s beacon chain to be launched on Dec. 1, ETH holders have been depositing ETH, and exactly 32 ETH to accumulate the sum needed to reach the limit before Dec. 1. 32 ETH is not a small amount, and this has been a high cost of entry, which could very much limit the number of investors from staking.

Vitalik has contributed around $1.3 million in ETH, and he has contributed via different Ethereum addresses. While ETH has been pouring in for staking, large amounts of ETH has been pulled off of exchanges.

The Yearn ETH 2.0 validator vault could add incentives for retail investors to stake on the network, and could also create secondary markets for Ethereum 2.0, which could also provide liquidity, and lending, which could fuel the DeFi community. These added incentives not only attract retail investors but also other investors that hold large amounts of ETH who are looking to remain liquid while supporting the launch of ETH 2.0

Ethereum Price Rallies as ETH Whales Hold the Smallest Percentage of Supply in 11 Months

Ethereum’s price has been gaining bullish momentum despite the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin facing a slight correction. Ethereum’s price (ETH) has been gaining over 24 percent in the past week and is up by 2.4 percent in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum has set a new year-to-date high recently, and Bitcoin has been slumping lower from its highs from this year. Capital in the cryptocurrency market could be moving from the world’s first cryptocurrency to Ethereum and other altcoins. 

The altcoin market has also seen rallies, Chainlink (LINK), gaining over 18 percent this week, Litecoin (LTC) 32 percent, Cardano (ADA) 45 percent, and Polkadot (DOT) over 24 percent. Decentralized finance (DeFi) token YFI has also witnessed a massive rally, gaining over 42 percent in the past week. 

ETH whales hold the smallest percentage of supply in 11 months

Ethereum has recently reached a 29-month price high, rallying to a high of $577 in the past 24 hours. On-chain analytics firm Santiment recently noted that the percentage of ETH held by the top whales is at an 11-month low, however, retail traders have been increasing. Santiment explained:

“With #Ethereum’s 29-month price high now reaching a high of $566 today, the percentage of $ETH supply held by the top 10 whales is at 11-month low levels (~12.1% of total coins held by these addresses). This can be attributed to the wider spread of accumulation by smaller traders as prices rose. 2 months ago, these whales held ~18.6% of the supply, so this is quite a reversal. Also, note miner balances hold 80k less $ETH since July.”

Santiment also added that there is a new high in daily active addresses interacting on the Ethereum network, with over 480,000 addresses. New Ethereum addresses are also increasing, possibly due to the upcoming ETH 2.0 Phase 0 launch. 

What is fueling the ETH rally?

While Ethereum was rallying in the footsteps of Bitcoin’s momentum, Ethereum’s top 10 holders have also risen. Together with decreased coin supply on exchanges, these two factors have fueled the recent Ether rally. Santiment noted that Ethereum’s price making new highs is possibly due to a large percentage of Ether moving to offline wallets, most likely for staking in anticipation of ETH 2.0 Phase 0. 

As Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 is nearing its launch, many in the Ethereum community have flocked to support its deposit contract. Ethereum 2.0, is the next-generation version of the blockchain network, allowing users to be able to stake their Ether. Stakers on the Ethereum network can now deposit their 32 Ether deposits to the contract, and the contract must collect a total of 524,288 ETH, in order to proceed with the launch.

More Than 50% of ETH Has Now Been Staked in Preparation for Ethereum 2.0 Mainnet

With just a week left before Ethereum 2.0’s launch, the staked deposits that are needed for the blockchain upgrade to happen have surged and topped 50% of its target.

A total of 524,888 Ether (ETH) are needed for ETH 2.0 mainnet to launch on December 1. This equates to 32 ETH per validator. At the time of writing, Ethereum’s launch pad has recorded that 294,304 ETH has been locked in, an impressive amount staked considering the lack of validators that was reported last week.

According to lead Ethereum coordinator Danny Ryan, the staked investments must be locked in seven days before December 1. If the required amount of Ether is not locked in by November 24, the genesis of ETH 2.0 will once again be delayed.

Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has taken the optimistic approach as validator participation seems to have surged in a short period of time. Compared to last week, when the staking balance was just nearing 20% of its threshold, this is good progress. Buterin tweeted:

“The #eth2 deposit contract has reached more than half of its target (currently at ~278000 ETH deposited), with the bulk of the deposits taking place in the last three days!”

Why will the beacon chain be better than a PoW blockchain?

The Ethereum 2.0 mainnet will feature the first phase of the new blockchain update, which will be a beacon chain. The mainnet’s goal will be to transition to a pure proof-of-stake protocol, as opposed to the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin run on.

An Ethereum pioneer retweeted by Buterin vouched for Ethereum’s beacon chain’s efficacy and faster transaction time in comparison with a proof-of-work chain. In addressing what should be expected of the beacon chain, he said:

“Faster sync times, better light client guarantees, reduced (maybe 0) ‘selfish mining’ risk, per-confirm reversion probability much lower in normal case (no attacks + good global network latency), better randomness, reduced losses if unexpected quantum breakthroughs appear.”

According to many, the proof-of-stake model will also be great for sustainability, as it will be more energy-efficient than proof-of-work blockchains. In addition, stakers stand to gain more profits with ETH 2.0, and scalability – the computing power or the amount of transactions that can be processed by software at a given time – will also be increased.

In tandem with Ethereum’s anticipated mainnet launch and Bitcoin’s bullish rally, Ethereum’s price has also skyrocketed. It has gained over 24% in the past week, currently trading north of $580 on CoinMarketCap. On-chain analytics also found that new Ethereum addresses have been increasing, which may imply that there has been renewed interest in the altcoin.

Ethereum’s Launch Ready for Take-Off as Deposit Contract Target Met, ETH Price Smashes $600

Ethereum 2.0’s launch is going to happen on December 1, at 12 pm UTC, as the required number of staked Ether for the deposit contract was locked in late last night.

Minimum number of validators reached

After much doubt and speculation as to whether the amount of needed Ether for ETH 2.0’s first phase to launch will be deposited in time, the milestone has been achieved. In order for Ethereum 2.0 mainnet to commence, a total of 524,888 Ether (ETH) had to be staked by November 24, 7 days before genesis scheduled for December 1.

With just a few hours to spare, the target was met late Monday night. Additionally, the number of staked Ether has even surpassed the required amount. Currently, according to Ethereum Foundation’s launchpad, 585,344 ETH have been staked. Anyone wishing to deposit Ether from now until the launch can still do so. Ethereum’s official progress tracker for staked deposits issued a message that read:

“We have liftoff. Thank you to the devs, the researchers, educators and community members who made this happen. See you on December 1st @ noon UTC.”

Staking on Ethereum 2.0 and one step closer to Serenity

Ethereum’s phase 0 – the first part of Ethereum 2.0’s complete blockchain project – will feature a beacon chain. The transition to a pure proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol will be tested on the mainnet, which will run in parallel with the current Ethereum blockchain network. The latter, like many other blockchains powering cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, run according to a Proof-of-Work consensus.  

On a proof-of-stake blockchain, validators will get rewarded for block proposals and for confirming then. The rewards reaped by validating blocks will be determined by how much ETH is staked in the network. If you have staked more Ether into the network, this will also increase your chances of being chosen to stake blocks.

Scalability is expected to increase on Ethereum 2.0, and more energy-efficient solutions are supposed to power cryptocurrency transactions on the new mainnet.

Ethereum’s price shoots through the roof

In tandem with the announcement that Ethereum’s launch will happen as expected, ETH’s price surged, breaking the $600 level. The surge can be attributed to many factors, namely the anticipation of Ethereum’s blockchain upgrade as well as Bitcoin’s recent bull run.

This is the first time that Ethereum’s price has shot past the $600 mark in two years, after breaking a psychological barrier of $500 last week. In explaining this phenomenon and comparing it to Bitcoin, William Noble, the Chief Technical Analyst for Token Metrics, told Blockchain.news:

“In 2017, there was a monster rally in Bitcoin over Thanksgiving. This year the chase will likely be in Ethereum. Little brother has a lot of catching up to do to match big brother Bitcoin’s performance.”

Noble referred to how Bitcoin’s rally to its all-time high in 2017 occurred near Thanksgiving. As the holiday is on Thursday, Ethereum’s price may gain even more in the next few days.

Ethereum’s upward trend is also propelled by the explosion of DeFi which leverages its network for the most part. Paolo Ardoino, the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Bitfinex shared with Blockchain.news:

“In volatile periods, traders gravitate to platforms offering the sort of robust architecture that can always be relied upon. Today’s spike in the price of ETH to near US $600 underlines an epic year where we’ve seen an explosion of interest in DeFi.”

In addition to this, the anticipation of ETH 2.0 and Bitcoin’s bullish momentum has served to push its price higher.

Currently, it is trading at $610.84, as crypto bulls have fallen back slightly to rest. 

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