Ethereum approaches $3,000 milestone ahead of Dencun upgrade
Ethereum’s price surged over 9% in the past week, while Bitcoin was up around 3%.
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Ethereum (ETH) is setting its sights on the $3,000 mark as the Dencun upgrade inches closer. According to data from TradingView, Ethereum’s price has exceeded $2,980 in the last 24 hours, up over 27% year-to-date. This milestone marks Ethereum’s most triumphant return to the $2,900 range since May 2022.
This surge in Ethereum’s valuation is largely attributed to a confluence of positive market developments and speculative anticipation surrounding the potential approval of a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF).
According to data from SpotOnChain, a whale has recently amassed a staggering 54,721 ETH, valued at over $150 million, through transactions on Binance and the decentralized exchange 1inch, averaging a purchase price of over $2,845 per ETH.
This massive whale just allegedly bought another 22,719 $ETH ($65.7M) at ~$2,893 in the past 50 minutes, including:
• withdrew 19,226 $ETH ($55.6M) from #Binance
• swapped 10.1M $USDT for 3,493 $ETH via #1icnhIn total, the whale has allegedly bought 54,721 $ETH via Binance… https://t.co/5XppfMigdf pic.twitter.com/UCL1VB01lW
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) February 19, 2024
Further examination of this whale’s portfolio via the SpotOnChain reveals a current holding of 74,383 ETH, equating to around $216 million. This accumulation signifies a near tripling of their Ethereum holdings in just 24 hours.
In addition to the ETH holdings, this investor also acquired about 5,485 stETH, liquid staking assets from Lido Finance, valued at nearly $16 million.
Liquid staking on Ethereum has attracted a huge amount of users. The total value locked in the liquid staking protocols has skyrocketed almost 600% since January last year, as reported by DeFiLlama. With the Dencun upgrade underway, liquid staking on Ethereum might see even greater growth in the future.
Scheduled for March 13, the Dencun upgrade will introduce several improvements, including the highly-anticipated Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 (EIP-4844), or “Proto-Danksharding.” This feature is expected to significantly reduce transaction fees, particularly benefiting layer 2 rollup chains.
Apart from the Dencun upgrade, there’s also a lot of hype surrounding the potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF, with prominent asset managers such as BlackRock, ARK Invest, and Franklin Templeton among the eight filing for the investment fund.
May 23 is a critical date for a potential spot Ethereum ETF as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prepares to rule on VanEck’s application. Interestingly, some developments experienced during the approval process for spot Bitcoin ETFs are resurfacing, as seen in ARK Invest and VanEck’s recent update to their spot Ethereum ETF filings.
Given Bitcoin’s price rally from around $27,500 to over $46,900 (according to data from CoinGecko) leading up to the decision on its spot ETF, March is shaping up to be a defining month for Ethereum.
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