Ethereum reached $3 thousand on Dencun, we expect ETH ETF.
Ethereum's native token reached $3,000 on February 20 after a week-long rally that saw money flow into several cryptocurrencies in 2024.
This was the first time since April 2022 that Ethereum (ETH) reached this level, confirming bullish sentiment on the second-largest cryptocurrency asset and blockchain. ETH is up more than 2% in the last 24 hours and more than 13% in the last seven days, according to CoinMarketCap.
Ethereum's market capitalization now exceeds $355 million after the latest increase, representing just over 18% of the total cryptocurrency market. ETH is also up 30% year to date (YTD).
Ether's rise has coincided with the rise of Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall cryptocurrency landscape. Demand for Bitcoin increased after the US Securities and Exchange Commission allowed BTC spot ETFs to trade on national exchanges such as NASDAQ and CBOE.
Some analysts have pointed to Bitcoin ETFs as a catalyst for widespread interest in cryptocurrency markets. TradingView data confirms this statement, as cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased by almost 20% in two months of the year.
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Issuers are also pursuing the same product with ETH as the underlying asset. As reported by crypto.news, several issuers, from ARK 21Shares to Invesco Galaxy, have filed applications to list Ethereum spot ETFs on US exchanges.
These products already exist in futures contracts that track upcoming ether prices rather than spot prices. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had routinely rejected spot cryptocurrency products, citing concerns about market manipulation and fraud, but Judge Neomi Rao's ruling in the Grayscale case overturned that tactic.
Judge Rao called the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) decision "arbitrary and capricious," finding the decision to approve and deny similar products inadequate in law.
Industry advocates hope the same rationale can be applied to ETH-based products, although SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has sometimes expressed a different view. Gensler has yet to answer definitively whether Ethereum is a security or not, but insists that the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are subject to financial regulations.
Analysts forecast a 50% chance that an Ethereum ETF that tracks ETH spot prices will receive regulatory approval in the second quarter of 2024.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed the approval or denial of spot ETFs on Ethereum until May, while a technology update continues to fuel optimism for the cryptocurrency. ETH developers plan to deploy Dencun on the network by the end of March.
Dencun introduces proto-danksharding, an update that increases data availability for Layer 2 pools. The solution will add blobs to activity on the network and is designed to reduce gas fees, making transactions easier and cheaper in the Ethereum ecosystem.
