Snapshot:
  • Ethereum’s London Hard Fork and Altair Upgrade 
  • Contribution of DApps and DeFi to ETH ATH 2021
  • Ethereum price prediction 2021 

Ethereum has been breaking all of its previous records this week. In a matter of just two weeks, Ethereum has given the crypto community two all-time highs, breaking all past ETH records. Although this altcoin rally was anticipated after bitcoin prices surged recently (touching the $66000 mark), Ethereum has been performing amazingly well nevertheless.  All the influencers bullish on Ethereum have been waiting for this day. However, the real question is, what made Ethereum soar the crypto sky this high? While few anticipate the bitcoin price surge being one of the main reasons, there are a few who give credits to the Altair upgrade of Ethereum for this terrific bullish week.  Ethereum’s market cap has increased by 147% in the last week.  ETH hit an all-time high of $4638.45 on November 3, 2021. Will the price rise continue? Will Ethereum touch $10,000 by the end of 2021? Will Ethereum Altair upgrade get more attention for the Ethereum blockchain system? We shall try to answer all these questions for you in this blog. But before we take a deep dive, let us understand what Ethereum is and what all upgrades it has undergone in the past. 

Ethereum London Hard Fork Upgrade

The Ethereum London Hard Fork Upgrade was a set of five proposals to improve the existing Ethereum blockchain system. The most important proposal of this was the EIP-1559. This EIP aimed at providing better speed for Ether mining and also enhanced the incentivizing system. Ethereum has no limit to Ether mining which makes this cryptocurrency inflationary. Miners are compensated by the transaction fees that users pay while using the blockchain protocol. One of the biggest advantages of the Ethereum London Hard Fork Upgrade is that it helps Ethereum to tackle numerous transactions in a second. This improvises the scalability of the Ethereum blockchain and thereby reducing the high gas fees that users had to pay generally.  We have also done a detailed study on ETH 2.0 and London Hard Fork Upgrade. We would recommend you understand what this upgrade means for Ethereum before moving forward into the Altair upgrade of Ethereum. 

What is Ethereum’s Altair Upgrade? 

Altair, the first mainnet upgrade of the Beacon Chain was scheduled for October 27, 2021. The Ethereum price has seen quite a surge after the release of the first mainnet of the Ethereum Altair upgrade. This upgrade is responsible for bringing light-client support to the core consensus, fixing issues regarding validator incentives, cleaning up the beacon state incentive accounting as well as setting up the punitive params according to EIP-2982.  According to Ben Edgington, Lead product owner at ConsenSys Quorum protocol, the Altair ethereum upgrade was an administrative fork. Although validators might have to update their nodes, stakers and end-users will notice no major change. ETH 2.0 rollout started when the Beacon chain upgrade was implemented in December 2020 and this brought staking to the Ethereum ecosystem. The proof-of-work consensus saw its end when the Beacon chain proof-of-stake system merged with Ethereum’s mainnet. However, all the implementations will finally take place by the end of 2022.  The impressive development team behind Ethereum has been constantly working to make Ethereum bulletproof and help its risk management activities. 

Contribution of DApps and DeFi  to ETH ATH 2021

Decentralized applications (DApps)  have also played a major role in the price rise of Ethereum and in helping it gain new heights. DApps are a growing movement of applications helping Ethereum to disrupt the business model or create new ones.  Various DApps and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) projects are taking the world by storm. While few are disrupting the decentralized exchange market, others are revolutionizing the gaming sector. DApps and DeFi are not just contributing to the finance sector but are also deploying innovative technology into different sectors of marketing, advertisement, gaming, NFT, etc.  The growing acceptance of DApps and DeFi has also contributed to ETH ATH in 2021. 

Timeline of Ethereum Upgrades 

Upgrade  Date 
Phase 0- Beacon Chain  December 1, 2020
London Hard Fork  August 5, 2021 
Ethereum Altair Upgrade  October 27, 2021 

Ethereum Price Prediction 2021

The second-largest cryptocurrency in the world by market cap, Ethereum has finally broken the $4000 resistance zone and has soared to new heights entering the $4500 zone with a new ETH ATH 2021 of $4638.45 on the morning of  November 3, 2021. This is right after the Bitcoin price surged a new ATH of $66,990 in the last leg of October.  Ethereum has signaled a bullish movement after crossing the $4000 resistance zone on October 20, 2021. This breakthrough at the $4k level indicated a bull run for the cryptocurrency for a long time.  There have been several factors responsible for this uptrend movement of Ethereum this year. One of them is the craze around NFTs. This great boom in the NFT sector is considered one of the potential reasons for the rise in prices of the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum.  Another driver for Ethereum’s price is EIP-1559. This is the fee-burning mechanism of Ethereum introduced during the London Hard Fork upgrade. Ethereum worth $3 billion and no less than 670,000 ETH has been burnt after the implementation of the EIP-1559 proposal.  Due to the increased buying pressure, the cryptocurrency has crossed the $4500 mark. Technical analysts say that Ethereum broke a resistance zone seen during the weekly time frame while it showed a complete uptrend in the monthly time frame chart. This technical analysis led to the predictions of Ethereum touching a new ATH in a matter of a few days, however, the cryptocurrency realized its potential in a few hours.  Experts believe that this bullish pattern is likely to continue and the pattern projects a $9350 price mark. However, this will only come true when Ethereum can stay above the $4k resistance band. Otherwise, it might cause a FOMO in the market creating selling pressure. This might eventually lead to dragging the asset back to the price level of $3400, as stated by experts.  According to Blocktown Capital founder, James Todaro, Ethereum might double up and reach $9000 in the near future. ETH ATH 2021 has been constantly changing due to various factors contributing to its growth. The robust development team, first-mover advantage as well as acceptance among the corporates have made Ethereum a fast driver and a leader among the altcoins. Wondering whether Ethereum will touch $10,000? We have got the question answered. 

Summing it Up! 

Ethereum has broken its  ATH prices in the last few days. Ethereum has hit an all-time high of $4638.45 on the morning of November 3rd, 2021. It has been constantly showing an uptrend and experts predict that this bull run is likely to continue for a long time. Ethereum has entered the $4500 mark and is continuing to go up due to various factors contributing to the same. The Ethereum Altair upgrade is one of the main reasons why we see this bull run. Other factors are EIP-1559, DApps, and DeFi projects. It is not possible to predict whether Ethereum will touch $10,000 by the end of 2021 however, experts believe that the bull run will continue even after the end of 2021.  Stay updated with the latest news around the crypto industry with CoinDCX. Learn the cryptocurrency and blockchain jargon with DCXLearn, a complete and free cryptocurrency, and blockchain course. Start your crypto investment journey with CoinDCX, India’s simplest and safest investment app.