Decentral Block Post

Ethereum (ETH) is witnessing a price breakout on the back of the successful Shanghai and Capella (Shapella) upgrades. The increased bullish sentiment after the upgrade led Ether price to hit a year-to-date high of $2,123 on April 14.

The Ethereum decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem received more daily fees, growing 30% in 24-hours on April 14 in tandem with Ether’s price growth. With the increase in Ether fees, the Ethereum proof of stake (PoS) token economics have turned deflationary and revenue is up 32% in the past 24-hours. 

Although the Ethereum network is showing positive momentum, regulators are trending toward taking swift action against the crypto sector. Debates on whether Ether is a security token under the Howey test continue combined with privacy concerns that an Ethereum researcher says staking reveals IP addresses. 

Let’s review a few of the reasons for Ether’s newfound strength.

Ethereum Shanghai was a success

The long-awaited Shapella upgrade was officially executed to mainnet on April 12.

Ethereum’s long-anticipated Shanghai and Capella upgrade was activated on April 12 and the total withdrawals in the first 40 hours after the Shapella upgrade stood at 142,425 ETH, per Nansen data. This falls in line with previous estimates. 

For a brief moment on April 12, when Shapella was activated, the deposits to ETH staking contracts outpaced withdrawals. However, deposits have slowed down come April 13 while the withdrawals are going strong.

ETH moved for withdrawals

The validators are required to update their staking software clients with withdrawal credentials changed to 0x01 from 0x00 and point to a valid Ethereum address. Once validators do that, the partial withdrawals, i.e. the withdrawals of rewards above 32 ETH, will be processed automatically.

Over 70.1% of validators have changed to 0x01, with 407,851.20 worth over $850 million set for withdrawal.

Additionally, 875,325 ETH worth $1.85 billion are waiting for full exit. Adding to the amount already processed in the first 40 hours, over 1.42 million ETH will be withdrawn from the staking contract.

Ethereum’s long-anticipated Shanghai and Capella upgrade was activated on April 12 and the total withdrawals in the first 40 hours after the Shapella upgrade stood at 142,425 ETH, per Nansen data. This falls in line with previous estimates. 

For a brief moment on April 12, when Shapella was activated, the deposits to ETH staking contracts outpaced withdrawals. However, deposits have slowed down come April 13 while the withdrawals are going strong.

ETH moved for withdrawals

The validators are required to update their staking software clients with withdrawal credentials changed to 0x01 from 0x00 and point to a valid Ethereum address. Once validators do that, the partial withdrawals, i.e. the withdrawals of rewards above 32 ETH, will be processed automatically.

Over 70.1% of validators have changed to 0x01, with 407,851.20 worth over $850 million set for withdrawal.

Additionally, 875,325 ETH worth $1.85 billion are waiting for full exit. Adding to the amount already processed in the first 40 hours, over 1.42 million ETH will be withdrawn from the staking contract.

Bitcoin (BTC) preserved new 10-month highs at the April 14 Wall Street open as analysts kept hoping for further gains.

$31,000 revealed as make-or-break trend line

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD consolidating around $30,700 after spiking past the $31,000 mark.

The pair saw no major retracement as it headed further into grounds it originally lost in June 2022.

Now, market participants eyed the potential for bulls to capitalize on existing momentum with the help of positive macro trends.

United States equities opened higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both up 0.3% at the time of writing.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has grown by more than 50% since Tesla unveiled its approximately $1 billion BTC sales in July 2022. In other words, the Elon Musk-owned electric carmaker would have made an additional $500 million if it had waited until today to sell. 

Are Tesla's Bitcoin trades profitable? 

Tesla infamously dumped nearly $936 million of its total Bitcoin holdings in Q2/2022, accounting for 75% of its remaining reserves, to secure a $64 million profit. At the time, Bitcoin was trading about 70% lower than its record high of $69,000 in November 2021.

Originally, Tesla purchased $1.50 billion worth of Bitcoin in February 2021 at an average price of $36,000. The company then sold BTC worth $272 million to boost its Q1/2021 accounting by $101 million.

The company has nevertheless held on to its remaining BTC as of Q4 2022 despite the price of Bitcoin sitting at bear-market lows of around $16,000 at the time. Today, Tesla holds 10,725 BTC worth around $330 million, almost 15% below the procurement value from February 2021.

Overall, Tesla made roughly $165 million in profit from two separate Bitcoin sales. As of April 14, it sits atop an unrealized loss of around $56.6 million on its remaining BTC holdings. While its net profit to date sits at around $108 million. 

Bitcoin (BTC) broke through $31,000 on April 14 as bulls hoped that altcoins would soon follow.

Analyst eyes potential dip under $30,000 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView captured new ten-month highs of $31,035 for BTC/USD on Bitstamp.

The pair had risen gradually the day prior after a consolidatory period around new macroeconomic data prints from the United States.

These had furthered the bullish risk asset narrative, with both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Inflation (PPI) prints showing inflation slowing faster than expected.

While Bitcoin did not react immediately, the latest uptick reinforced market participants’ convictions over continued strength and a break with the long-term downtrend.