Ethereum is in the midst of a parabolic rally. The second-largest cryptocurrency has breached the $500 hurdle for the first time since 2018 and is up over 280% year-to-date.
Ethereum’s jump to 28-month highs comes as alternative cryptocurrencies (also known as altcoins) stage a recovery from the lackluster performance. Above $500, there’s now very little stopping ethereum from printing new historic highs.
ETH Jumps Above $500 For First Time In Two And A Half Years
Ethereum surged past $500 on Friday for the first time since July of 2018. At press time, ETH is trading at $508.24 after gaining 7.06% in the past 24 hours. In fact, the altcoin has outperformed bitcoin. The flagship cryptocurrency has risen 2.72%. Additionally, ETH has generated a 285% return for investors since the start of the year, while BTC has managed a 154% gain on the year so far.
Ethereum has been in the spotlight in recent months as the crypto community awaits the launch of ETH 2.0 on December 1, an upgrade that is believed to be the solution to the ethereum network’s persistent scaling issues. As the transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism draws closer, the ethereum price has continued to increase significantly.
Besides the imminent ETH 2.0 mainnet release, the price of ethereum is also being boosted by the resurgence of the DeFi market. DeFi tokens and the amount of capital pumped into DeFi projects have been slowly making a comeback after cooling off in Q3 2020. As DeFi picks up again, the market sentiment around ethereum has dramatically increased.
Nonetheless, ethereum will have to surge at least 183% if it wants to retest its old all-time high set in January 2018. Bitcoin, on the other hand only needs a 10% appreciation in order to break past its ATH.
Notably, other altcoins are also seeing significant gains alongside ETH’s move above $500. For instance, XRP has gained 5.51% to trade above $0.31. Chainlink (LINK) is up 5.13% on the day and Polkadot (DOT) has increased by 13.41% over the same time frame.
