Ether Hits Above $2000 After Successful Shapella Upgrade The second-largest cryptocurrency by market value was reportedly trading at $2015, up more than 5% over the past 24 hours
By Teena Jose
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Ether continued its strength and the price jumped above $2000 for the first time in eight months, a day after Ethereum successfully completed the much-awaited Shapella upgrade, according to media reports. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market value was reportedly trading at $2015, up more than 5% over the past 24 hours.
As per the reports, Ether advanced more than 10% to as high as $2,130.30, its highest level since May 2022. It's on pace for a 13% weekly gain. Bitcoin gained about 3% to reclaim the $30,000, rising as high as $30,928.16, its highest level since June. It's on track to finish the week up more than 9%. Also, after a two-year lock up period, Ethereum staking withdrawals were enabled by the Shanghai upgrade around 6:30 p.m. ET on April 12.
Shapella, also called the Ethereum Shanghai hard fork, continued the transformation of Ethereum network since The Merge, when it switched fully from proof-of-stake on September 15,2022. In the weeks leading to Shapella, market observers had diverged over ETH's price reaction with some expecting that selling pressure would send the price down, but others saw a little impact or even an increase.
With regards to investors, many were optimistic but cautious in the weeks leading up to Shanghai, also known as "Shapella." While many agree the upgrade is good for Ethereum in the long-term – because it allows more liquidity to either investors or stakers.
Before the upgrade, Sili Zhao, director of Global Business at InfStones, in the Kitco News was quoted as saying, "I didn't expect a big price dump for ETH because many of those who withdraw will restake with larger positions, while new market participants will be enticed to begin staking for the first time. I think we will see more people stake."
As per the statement, Zhao also said that the profiles of the existing stakers, who before Shapella were already willing to tie up their ETH indefinitely to earn rewards while supporting the blockchain, mean they will get right back once the mechanism is confirmed.
The reports further noted that ETH's performance around the Shanghai Fork will depend less on "technicals" and more on "what risk actually does at that time," according to a report from Coinbase Research prior to the upgrade
