Ether has surged to a new all time high above $2,230 ahead of the major update dubbed ‘Berlin’ – scheduled to launch on Wednesday April 14th.

Ether’s price $2,231 on Tuesday, setting a new record for the highest dollar valuation the coin ever achieved since its inception. Ethereum’s market capitalisation exceed $250 billion for the first time ever.

Just six month ago, Bitcoin’s market capitalisation was at the same level in October 2020.

Ether’s  1,328% growth over the year continued despite concerns regarding the network’s increasing transaction fees. Due to increased usage, the average Ethereum transaction hit an all-time high of $38.21 in February, per data from Glassnode analytics. This made the network practically unusable for small transactions.


Want to acquire Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto? Start here.


Still, investors remained hopeful partly due to upcoming network upgrades that are set to radically change the way fees are processed. The “London” upgrade (EIP-1559),  scheduled for this summer, has drawn the ire of Ethereum miners, as it would burn a portion of fees that are normally accrued by mining rig operators (thereby making Ethereum a deflationary asset).


Read More: April 14 Coinbase IPO to unlock next wave of crypto inflows?


Meanwhile, Wednesday’s Berlin upgrade is expected to have less of an impact in the short term but will pave the way for the London hard-fork, codifying 4 upgrades to the network. A full technical breakdown for the Berlin update can be found on the release page. Briefly, the changes and trade-offs are aimed to reduce costs for certain transaction types in an effort to stave off overloading the system. A new transaction envelope will also batch multiple transactions into a single transfer.

Naturally, Ether wasn’t the only coin to hit a new all-time high on Tuesday; Bitcoin also hit new heights as the coin surged above $63,000. As it happened, Litecoin led the charge climbing to $270 just 16% below its highest weekly close at $313.


Subscribe to the semi-weekly newsletter for regular insight into bitcoin and crypto. Go on. It’s free.

Join the telegram channel for updates, charts, ideas and deals.

Did you like the article? Share it!