Over the past few days, the indicators of the main altcoin have rewritten the history of the cryptocurrency market. First of all, the asset for the first time in history reached $3,500, and the total capitalization of the cryptocurrency exceeded $409 billion. As a result, there was a major shift in the percentage dominance in the market – Ethereum for the first time reached the mark of 16.5%, lowering the share of bitcoin to 43.5%.
After the Berlin update, the ether significantly strengthened its position. The 80% reduction in fees and the increased institutionalization of the asset, coupled with the problems of bitcoin, were decisive factors in the growth of the main altcoin's quotes. It was a series of events in late April and early May that caused a drastic recalibration of the portfolios of market participants towards altcoins. Ether played a significant role in this change of priorities, which took over the leadership from the problematic bitcoin.
As a result, the ETH/USD pair is confidently holding on to the very top and has set a new all-time record at $3,500. However, over the past day, the asset took a break and settled at $3,390. At the same time, daily trading volumes remain at a fairly high level in the region of $74.5 billion, exceeding the indicators of bitcoin. Over the past week, ether has risen in price by 26.5% and has created a powerful foothold, which allows us to hope for a continuation of the upward dynamics. This is evidenced by significant losses of bears over the past 24 hours, which tried to play on the decline. Crypto exchanges around the world have liquidated traders' positions totaling more than $535 million.
Ethereum will continue to rally, intermittently with local corrections, as evidenced by several important factors. First of all, the altcoin season is in full swing on the market, which is accompanied by the psychological problems of bitcoin. The second factor concerns exclusively ether and is the main component of the bright growth of cryptocurrency performance. ETH is in a safe time frame between two defining updates. The Gas algorithm was updated in mid-April, and the next stage of the transition to ETH 2.0 will take place in early June. The EIP-1559 update will allow burning part of the miners' commission and will greatly strengthen the position of ether relative to its closest pursuers (ADA, DOT) and the main cryptocurrency. In addition, Ethereum begins to take over the information space, creating an individual positive news background. For instance, it became known that in April, the ether miners made a record profit of $1.65 billion. More than 56% of the proceeds came from mined blocks, which is directly related to the decrease in the cost of commissions.
The final chord, which will approve the new position of ethereum in the cryptocurrency market, will be the full implementation of the ETH 2.0 version. The current demand for the asset is caused by the development of independent financing startups, as well as an increase in transactions on the network by 22% from January 2021. Given this, it can be argued that ETH indicators will continue to grow until mid-June. If the partial launch of the mechanisms for switching to the new version caused a violent reaction from the market, then with the full launch of ETH 2.0, the asset quotes will fly into space. Ether will finally neutralize the presence of competing altcoins, and bitcoin will have no technical base to compete with the main altcoin as a means of conducting transactions. Ethereum risks becoming a monopoly as a payment instrument among crypto assets because the 2.0 update will allow segmenting transactions, which will significantly increase the throughput and speed of operations.
