The Ethereum network is prospering
The world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum (ETH), is holding the fort above $3,000 after crossing this psychologically important threshold yesterday afternoon, according to data by CoinGecko.
Due to its high-functionality contracts, Ethereum is crypto’s most commercially successful blockchain.
If we go by total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama, the amount of money strapped into the network is currently an eye-watering $48 billion, up 50% from 30 days ago.
Ethereum’s biggest rival, market leader Bitcoin (BTC), is down more than 2% in the last 7 days. It fell 1% in the last 24 hours.
Binance’s BNB is the only other one of the ten biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap posting a rally today. BNB is up 10% in the last seven days and currently trades for $387.37.
A couple of other top projects are down bad, including Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL). All of them have fallen more than 8% short of their prices this time last week.
Ethereum’s resilience to the broader market-wide pullback could be attributed to anticipation over spot Ethereum ETFs coming soon.
In January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved ten different spot Bitcoin ETFs to begin trading on exchanges.
ETFs are regulated investment products that buy, store, and track the price of their underlying asset.
The Bitcoin ETF narrative was the main driver of crypto prices before and after the round of SEC approvals on January 10 this year.
The SEC has given companies applying for a US spot Ethereum ETF a deadline of May 23 this year.
Several in the industry believe that this is the date when the agency will make a round of approvals, based on historic precedent.
Glancing at the chart, Ethereum has been on a clear upward trend since January.
It’s currently trading a little under its 30-day moving average, represented by the blue line, and it has a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 45, which indicates sober market activity.
Since mid-February, things have been looking a little bullish for ETH. Frequent shallow cup-and-handle patterns indicate bursts of buying followed by short periods of market consolidation.
