Key Insights

  • The crypto market is green again, and Ethereum is leading.

  • Ethereum may be bullish now, because of 12 April’s upcoming Shanghai/Shapella upgrade.

  • Ethereum has broken through $1,793 and is eyeing a rally to $2,000

  • If the bears take control, a steep drop to $1,680 or lower is possible.

The crypto market is in green again, after more than a week of lethargy.

Just like it was in mid-March, Bitocin has gotten back on track and is aiming for another retest of the $29,000 – $30,000 resistance.

However, while Bitcoin led the charge earlier, gaining more than 20% in its rise from below $20,000 to the $29,000 zone, Ethereum is leading the charge this time around.

Snapshot showing recent tokenomics on the marketSnapshot showing recent tokenomics on the market

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies on the market have been significantly bullish today, and over the last week.

Bitcoin, in particular, has risen by 5% over the last week, and by less than 1% over the last day.

Ethereum, on the other hand, is the star of the party. $ETH has risen by an impressive 8% over the last week and is significantly bullish. Bitcoin’s sister cryptocurrency has moved by 3.4% to the upside over the last 24 hours.

What is going on? Why is Ethereum significantly more bullish than every other cryptocurrency on the market, and what might the market have in store for $ETH?

Ethereum’s Shanghai (Codenamed Shapella) Update

Why is Ethereum significantly more bullish than other cryptocurrencies on the market?

The answer might lie in the upcoming Shanghai update, expected to hit the Ethereum mainnet at epoch 194,048, which is scheduled for 10:27 pm UTC on April 12.

After being successfully tested on the Goerli testnet, the Ethereum Shanghai hard fork (also known as the Shapella upgrade) will allow the network’s users to withdraw their staked assets for the very first time.

For context, the network’s users have been staking ETH for two years now, since the launch of the Beacon chain, two years ago.

The question is: Is the Shanghai update a good thing for Ethereum investors?

Yes and no.

ETH Flood May Weaken Ethereum Price

At the time of writing, more than 17 million $ETH is currently staked in the beacon chain.

This means that if Ethereum’s current price is $1,800, the Beacon chain holds approximately $30,600,000,000 (or 30.6 billion dollars) worth of ETH.

The amount of ETH locked in the beacon chain since 2020

When the Shanghai update hits the mainnet, the effect of tens of billions of dollars being released incrementally on the price of Ethereum is anybody’s guess.

While the hard fork will permit both partial and complete withdrawals, however,  the developers in charge of the network have assured its users that numerous safeguards have been put in place to prevent the market from being overrun with $ETH.

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