Ethereum has undergone significant developments, achieving a market capitalization of $225.5 billion. This evolution includes critical upgrades such as the introduction of smart contracts, the DAO hard fork, and the recent Dencun upgrade.
In a recent report, Glassnode and Coinbase shared insights on Ethereum’s performance in the current market cycle and Q2 2024. ETH’s price has surged by 240% since its low in November. The report notes that the current market cycle resembles the 2018-2022 cycle, during which ETH achieved a 6,000% increase from its cycle low.
Despite a 31% annual return and a 29% drawdown in 2024, these figures are modest compared to previous cycles. This suggests ETH may have further growth potential. Additionally, ETH’s Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) has broken below its six-month Simple Moving Average (SMA). This indicates that many investors acquired ETH at prices below the current market value, pointing to a possible market transition. A break above the six-month SMA could bring many of these holdings into profit.
It is important to note that one of Ethereum’s major recent milestones was the DAO hack and subsequent hard fork, which resulted in the creation of Ethereum Classic. This event tested the resilience of the community and network. Another crucial upgrade was The Merge, transitioning Ethereum from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake, significantly reducing its energy consumption.
Ethereum also introduced Layer 2 scaling solutions to address network congestion and high gas fees. The Shanghai Upgrade enabled the withdrawal of staked ETH, providing liquidity to validators. The recent Dencun upgrade introduced blob storage and reduced gas fees, enhancing user experience. Looking ahead, the Pectra upgrade aims to increase the maximum amount of staked ETH per validator from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, and will enable addresses to temporarily function as smart contracts.
Ethereum on Edge: $5.9 Million ETH Unstaked – Is More Volatility Ahead?
At the time of this writing, Ethereum is priced at $3,316, with a 24-hour trading volume of $11,299,742,405. This represents a 0.69% decrease in the last 24 hours and a 3.59% decline over the past week. With a circulating supply of 120 million ETH, the market cap stands at $399,242,195,972. Over the last seven days, Ethereum has underperformed the global cryptocurrency market, which saw a 0.70% increase. This underperformance is notable given the broader market’s positive trend.
