The price of ETH arrived at $2,000 for the first time on Saturday 20th of February.
The leading crypto assets persist to set new value records. At the beginning of February, Ether passed over the $1,800 mark, and on February 20, the second-biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization bested $2,000. As early as January 1, ether was traded at $725, after which it began to expand swiftly, and the rate of ETH rose in 10 weeks by more than 168%.
ETH’s increase was propelled by at least three separate factors: the rise in decentralized finance (also known as DeFi) projects, the creation of Ethereum 2.0, and the ETH futures trading launch by the CME Group.
Moreover, institutional and retail investment in Bitcoin has stimulated the interest in cryptocurrencies at large. Since the beginning of 2021, Bitcoin has rocketed from $34,000 to around $57,000, mainly due to news of sizable investments from well-established companies such as Tesla, also triggering the so-called Elon Musk effect. Bitcoin capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time a few days ago.
Furthermore, the amount of trading in ETH futures on CME surpassed $160 million in the first seven days, and Vitalik Buterin announced a strategy for Ethereum 2.0, which will include support for small users and an update in the method for validator penalties.
