Ethereum Hits $4,000 for the First Time Since 2021
08 Mar, 2024 ● Coin news
Ether surged above the $4,000 mark for the first time since December 2021.
On March 8, Ether's price rose from $3,873, marking a more than 4% increase in the past 24 hours and a 74% rise year-to-date, reaching $4,003 on Bitstamp, as per CoinMarketCap data.
This rally in Ether's price is attributed to the anticipation surrounding Ethereum's forthcoming Dencun update and the potential approval of a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On March 8, ETH resumed its upward trajectory while other major cryptocurrencies indicated positive sentiment, with Bitcoin reclaiming $68,000.
Ether continued its steady climb toward the significant psychological level of $4,000 as the Ethereum community eagerly awaited the Dencun upgrade.
The Dencun upgrade, considered the most substantial improvement to the Ethereum network since the Merge, aims to implement several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including EIP-4844, which introduces "proto-danksharding."
Proto-danksharding facilitates the use of blobs on the blockchain, simplifying the transaction process by storing certain data off the blockchain.
This enhances transaction speed and reduces costs for layer-2 chains and rollups dependent on Ethereum.
Additionally, anticipation of SEC approval for one of several spot Ether ETF applications is driving Ether's price performance.
Despite the SEC delaying its decision on spot Ethereum ETF applications from BlackRock and Fidelity, there's optimism among market participants that approval will be granted soon.
The SEC is expected to make a decision on all spot Ether ETF applications simultaneously, similar to its approach with Bitcoin ETFs on Jan. 10, to maintain fairness.
The SEC's statutory deadline for approving or denying an Ether ETF is set for May 23.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart predicts a faster approval process for Ether ETFs compared to Bitcoin ETFs, emphasizing May 23 as the crucial date for Ether ETFs.
Given the success of spot Bitcoin ETFs since their introduction on Jan. 11, a spot Ether ETF is anticipated to attract significant capital into the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Institutional investors may increase their exposure to Ether as attention shifts from Bitcoin's recent all-time high, according to Siddharth Lalwani, co-founder and CEO of Range Protocol.
Lalwani suggests that as attention pivots to the potential of an ETH ETF, liquidity will consolidate at higher levels, leading to price rallies.
He anticipates institutional investors will soon take larger positions in Ether.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ether-eth-price-4-000-first-time-2021
https://x.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1765368735710241086
https://x.com/TimBeiko/status/1762492163869614411
