Ethereum is surging amid ETF approval and Pectra upgrade
The price of Ethereum has surged to its highest point in two months, exceeding $3900, shortly after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Ethereum spot ETFs.
Ethereum was the leader of growth among the top 10 cryptocurrencies last week. During this period, the price of ETH soared by about 27%, which contrasts sharply with Bitcoin's modest growth of 2%.
Are We Approaching a New Peak?
Key industry experts have compared Bitcoin's 70% rise caused by the Bitcoin ETFs to Ethereum, suggesting that the second cryptocurrency could soon hit an all-time high.
The approval of ETFs is directly related to the growing recognition of cryptocurrency as a legitimate financial asset class ready for broader institutional participation.
Michael Saylor from MicroStrategy supported this view, emphasizing that ETF endorsement strengthens institutional confidence. Earlier, Saylor expressed doubts about the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs and leaned toward Ethereum being classified as a security.
Moreover, Arthur Cheong, the visionary behind DeFiance Capital, presented a view that ETH’s price could ascend to $4,500 prior to the trading start of these ETFs, citing an underrepresentation of the asset in current crypto portfolios.
The financial titan JPMorgan has projected that the ETF could debut before the upcoming US presidential election.
Awaiting the Pectra Upgrade
Ethereum is also on the rise amid news of a network upgrade called Pectra. The developers are ready to release it at the beginning of the first quarter of 2025.
The Pectra will be a major update after the past Dencun. The upcoming update aims to improve the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and includes 11 improvement suggestions.
It’s worth noting that the developers have decided to retire the account abstraction proposal EIP-3074 in favor of the more advanced EIP-7702, proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. EIP-7702 intends to allow Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to function as smart contract wallets during transactions, thereby streamlining operations and amplifying security.
Michael Saylor Vitalik Buterin
