Ethereum (ETH) hit a new all-time high of $4,400, just over a week after Bitcoin (BTC) achieved the same feat.
ETH is also riding the recent wave of enthusiasm in the cryptocurrency markets. Up nearly 55% since the end of September, ETH has now topped its previous record of $4,380 set in May, during the previous peak for crypto markets.
“This is a momentum beast at the moment, and it looks bloody strong,” said Chris Weston, research head at broker Pepperstone. He mentioned that a recent technical upgrade to the Ethereum network could have contributed to the rally. “A lot of the time, with these technological upgrades and bits and pieces, this is news that fuels the beast, it’s fodder for people to say, ‘This is what we bought in for,’ and as soon as it starts moving, it’s like a red rag to a bull, people just go and buy.”
Beacon Chain’s Altair upgrade
Earlier this week, Ethereum core developer Raul Jordan posted that the Altair upgrade on the Beacon Chain had been successfully deployed. According to an Ethereum Foundation (EF) released earlier this year, Altair is an upgrade that brings light client support, minor patches to incentives, and per-validator inactivity leak accounting.
The blog post also states that this update represents a “warm-up upgrade” for the Beacon Chain and its associated clients. Effectively, the update brings several main features to the Ethereum 2.0 network. The Altair upgrade was the first major update to the network since the London hard fork took place in August.
October crypto rally
Ethereum’s new all-time high comes just nine days after Bitcoin (BTC) hit its own, reaching $67,000 on October 20. In BTC’s case, the rally was driven by excitement over the listing of the first Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on US markets. This came after their anticipated approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the week prior.
Meme crypto Shiba Inu (SHIB) also hit a new all-time high this week. Its price rocketed almost 160% this week, elevating it to become the world’s ninth-largest token in market capitalization, beating out its antecedent, ten-place Dogecoin.
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