Ethereum’s native token ether (ETH) triggered a broader market rally during early Asia hours on Wednesday. This jump came soon after the launch of its Pectra upgrade, the biggest revamp since the 2022 Merge. The upgrade sent the token surging nearly 20%, its biggest one-day percentage gain since 2021, with trading currently above $2,100. In contrast, the Pectra upgrade is an ambitious protocol-wide hard fork intended to increase the general performance of the Ethereum network.
The Pectra upgrade simplifies validator operations by increasing the validator staking limit from 32 to 2,048 ETH via EIP-7251. In addition, it takes us a step further in terms of wallet usability with account abstraction mechanisms, which enable ephemeral smart contract functionality through EIP-7702. In all, the upgrade adds or touches nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals.
EIP-7251 and EIP-7702 are critical for the functions of Pectra upgrade. This upgrade is a momentous step forward for Ethereum. The upgrade has been a huge boon to Ethereum’s ether (ETH) price and played a role in a larger crypto market rally. Bitcoin (BTC) also got in on the act, climbing all the way up over $100K for the first time in three months.
"helped restore some confidence, and with ETHBTC down nearly 40% year-to-date at 0.02, it's not surprising to see buyers stepping in at these levels." - Ming Jung from Presto Research
The CoinDesk 20 – our index of the largest, most liquid digital assets by average day trading volume – is up more than 10%.
"We're seeing a recycling of sell flow into higher-momentum plays, a shift from the caution that’s defined the last two months. While still below Q4 2024 levels, beta appetite is clearly building" - Flowdesk
