Ethereum’s native token, Ether, during the Asian session today, hit a new all-time high of $4,638.45, as bullish momentum returns to the altcoin market with many tokens entering price discovery.
The move by Ether to ATH also comes just days after the successful Altair upgrade to the Ethereum network, which was the first update to the Beacon chain, bringing the network closer to the full rollout of Ethereum 2.0.
Many traders are of the opinion that a renewed bull run is on the verge of happening while others believe it to be already in full gear. Although there are coins that have not found their momentum to head back into their respective bull phases, one could argue that as a result of the current cryptocurrency market capitalization which is also trading at an ATH of $2.73 trillion, the bull run is back in full session.
What you should know
Ether’s upward trajectory also comes as the number of tokens locked in the Ethereum 2.0 staking contract surpassed 8 million for the first time, a process that continues to drain the available circulating supply and place positive pressure on the price.
Asides from this, data from Glassnode reveals that $2.5 billion worth of Ether left exchanges last week with $5.7 billion coming in and $8.2 billion going out, indicating net accumulation of the token at higher prices.
On-chain analyst, Matthew Hyland compares Ether’s price action in 2017 with the current market structure of ETH. He believes that the price of Ether will trade over $14,000 in the next two to three months.
Also adding to the bullish momentum is Ether seeing its first consecutive week of deflationary issuance. With the London hardfork upgrade introducing a burn mechanism to the Ethereum blockchain, a small quantity of Ether has since been destroyed with every transaction executed on the network.
As a result of the high gas fees plaguing the network, Ethereum has seen seven consecutive days of deflationary issuance for the network, which means that more Ether has been removed from supply than created through mining.
According to data from Ultrasound Money fee burning tracker, around 15,000 ETH ($68.5 million at current prices) is being burnt daily.
Despite Ethereum’s first deflationary week, many Ether advocates are seeking to encourage users to migrate to transacting using its emerging layer-two ecosystem. However, other ‘Ethereum killers’ like Solana, Avalanche, BSC and Polkadot are beginning to gain market share as many traders flee from Ethereum’s high transaction fee.
Ether currently trades at $4570, up 4.45% for the day.
