Ethereum picks up pace in the second week of April

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Ethereum is making headlines in the second week of April 2024, accelerating past $3,700 on April 9. In the past seven days, the crypto has seen a 6.60 percent rise.

As of April 10, ETH trades around $3,500.

Notably, the hikes noticed recently outpaced Bitcoin in growth percentages, even as the larger point remains that the two are by no means comparable and a smaller stride for Bitcoin holds equal, if not more, impact as compared to a larger step for Ethereum and other altcoins. In relevant news, Bitcoin has gained 4.46 percent in the past seven days.

Why the recent highs for Ethereum? The many factors include strong and optimistic market activities; further, the bullish momentum and rising volumes across the crypto markets have spurred on a higher degree of social activities, giving Ethereum its most recent boost.

There is also the matter of ETH derivatives. The Ethereum derivatives markets are overall signifying continued bullish trajectory for ETH in the rest of April. Notably, the upcoming significant market events include the fourth ever Bitcoin halving in just 9 days now, which has the potential to inject a great deal of crypto’s infamous volatility across all assets. However, it seems the traders in the aforementioned derivates markets remain positive.

There is one remaining factor that may be fueling the ETH proponents in particular- the potential for one or more spot Ethereum ETFs in the US. Similar instruments for Bitcoin from renowned US-based financial giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale have left their mark in the market already, pulling in institutional investors and boosting Bitcoin’s price to a $70,000 support.

10 of the major US spot Bitcoin ETFs cumulatively hold about 859,280 bitcoins as of April 9, 2024.

While many expect Ethereum ETFs to have a similar impact on the mainstream journey of the crypto industry, some analysts remain skeptical of the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) actually giving such investment instruments a go ahead, especially as there’s an ongoing probe on whether Ethereum is to be classified as a commodity or not.

However, with consistent protocol updates, Ethereum is planning ahead, and the user excitement surrounding it is not likely to dim, regardless of the presence of a spot ETH ETF in the heart of global finance.

Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist.
Twitter: @bhardwajshash