2023-04-10 09:57:01 ET
The price of %Ethereum () continues to rally 48 hours ahead of its highly anticipated %Shapella upgrade.
In the past month, Ethereum’s price has risen 30% to $1,860 U.S., bringing its year-to-date gain to 55%.
The rally in the second largest %Cryptocurrency by market capitalization has been gathering steam ahead of the April 12 Shapella upgrade that will allow owners of the digital asset to withdraw their assets quicker and more easily.
Until now, investors had to use centralized exchanges such as %Coinbase () or decentralized finance ( %DeFi ) protocols such as Lido to access their Ethereum.
The Shapella upgrade will unlock more of Ethereum’s value, giving holders more control over their assets, say analysts.
This development has led Ethereum’s price to rally strongly in recent weeks as crypto enthusiasts prepare for the latest upgrade to the ETH blockchain.
Shapella will be the second major upgrade to Ethereum in less than a year. Last September, the cryptocurrency underwent a transition to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake protocol in a process known as the “Merge.”
Ethereum is now considered to be the most environmentally friendly cryptocurrency.
Instead of running large banks of computers, Ethereum validators now leverage their existing cache of Ethereum to verify transactions and mint new tokens in a much less energy intensive process.
Having the ability to deposit and withdraw Ethereum tokens on their own following the Shapella upgrade is expected to encourage even more investors to buy the cryptocurrency.
By some estimates, the Shapella upgrade could unlock as much as $30 billion U.S. worth of staked Ethereum from the network, representing a huge amount of liquidity.