Decentral Block Post

With one week to go until the Ethereum (ETH) Shanghai and Capella upgrades on April 12, all eyes are on Ether. The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization shrugged off rumors and regulatory action against exchanges to hit a 7-month high of $1,922 on April 5. 

Ether price has momentum and here are three strong reasons why.

Multiple positive price achievements

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, despite market volatility, Ether price has posted gains on the 7-day, 1-month and 3-month timeframes. Ether price gains are also notable on the year-to-date perspective, showing 59% growth.

Ether’s ability to break resistance levels is leading some analysts to believe a $3,000 price target is on the horizon in Q2 2023. The trend shows that whale accumulation remains strong, growing by 0.5% in March according to data from analytics provider Santiment.

The bullish buying activity may prove on-chain data correct that Ether sell pressure after the Shanghai hardfork will be a non-event.

With one week to go until the Ethereum Shanghai and Capella upgrades on April 12, all eyes are on Ether(ETH). The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization shrugged off rumors and regulatory action against exchanges to hit a seven-month high of $1,922 on April 5. 

Ether price has momentum, and here are three strong reasons why.

Multiple positive price achievements

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, Ether price has posted gains on the seven-day, one-month and three-month timeframes despite market volatility. Ether price gains are also notable from the year-to-date perspective, showing 59% growth.

Ether’s ability to break resistance levels is leading some analysts to believe a $3,000 price target is on the horizon in Q2 2023. The trend shows that whale accumulation remains strong, growing by 0.5% in March, according to data from analytics provider Santiment.

The bullish buying activity may prove on-chain data correct that Ether sell pressure after the Shanghai hardfork will be a non-event.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains pinned below the psychologically crucial level of $30,000 as cryptocurrency investors search for positive triggers. That has not stopped business intelligence firm MicroStrategy from adding 1,045 Bitcoin to its kitty, which has now swelled to 140,000 Bitcoin.

Even after the sharp recovery from November 2022 low, monitoring resource Material Indicators believes the current up-move is a bear market rally.

Usually, a bear market rally does not turn around until the last bear has thrown in the towel. This suggests that Bitcoin’s recovery may have some more legs before it turns down to shake out the weaker hands.

A survey conducted by financial services firm Brown Brothers Harriman shows that institutional investors remain interested in the cryptocurrency space despite the crypto winter. It found that 74% of institutional investors were “extremely/very interested” in adding exposure to exchange-traded-funds with cryptocurrency related exposure.

Will Bitcoin continue its northward march and rise above $30,000? Will that move boost the altcoins higher? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Ether’s (ETH) price had been battling the $1,850 resistance level, but it broke through on April 4 when Ether rallied to a seven-month high above $1,900. Recently there has been a lot of speculation on Ether price catalysts. Let’s see if it’s possible to identify any fundamental factors behind the price movement. 

The upcoming Shanghai hard fork could be one factor in Ether’s recent bullish momentum. On April 12, the ability for validators to withdraw their deposits opens, giving staking participants freedom of movement but also creating a sell-off risk for Ether.

There are now 17.81 million ETH staked on the Beacon Chain, though some safeguards have been put in place to prevent a flood of Ether from disrupting the market. For example, because there is a daily limit of 2,200 withdrawals, the maximum daily unlocks are 70,000 ETH.

Scalability and selfish validator risks are still present

The upcoming Shanghai fork, however, does not address some of the most pressing issues currently plaguing the Ethereum network. Scalability continues to be a major issue for most users, as the average transaction fee has hovered around $5 in recent weeks, driving users away from decentralized applications (DApps).

Furthermore, the current consensus mechanism favors rogue miners who outperform other network participants, a phenomenon known as miner extractable value (MEV). They can quickly duplicate all winning deals from the mempool and execute their transactions ahead of others by ultimately deciding which transactions are completed in the block.

Ether’s (ETH) price had been battling the $1,850 resistance level, but it broke through on April 4 when Ether rallied to a seven-month high above $1,900. Recently there has been a lot of speculation on Ether price catalysts. Let’s see if it’s possible to identify any fundamental factors behind the price movement. 

The upcoming Shanghai hard fork could be one factor in Ether’s recent bullish momentum. On April 12, the ability for validators to withdraw their deposits opens, giving staking participants freedom of movement but also creating a sell-off risk for Ether.

There are now 17.81 million ETH staked on the Beacon Chain, though some safeguards have been put in place to prevent a flood of Ether from disrupting the market. For example, because there is a daily limit of 2,200 withdrawals, the maximum daily unlocks are 70,000 ETH.

Scalability and selfish validator risks are still present

The upcoming Shanghai fork, however, does not address some of the most pressing issues currently plaguing the Ethereum network. Scalability continues to be a major issue for most users, as the average transaction fee has hovered around $5 in recent weeks, driving users away from decentralized applications (DApps).

Furthermore, the current consensus mechanism favors rogue miners who outperform other network participants, a phenomenon known as miner extractable value (MEV). They can quickly duplicate all winning deals from the mempool and execute their transactions ahead of others by ultimately deciding which transactions are completed in the block.