Can the altcoin Ethereum follow in the footsteps of its big brother Bitcoin and launch an ETF? All eyes are on Ethereum.
After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), the question of whether to approve an Ethereum (ETH) spot ETF has become a hot topic. As interest in the cryptocurrency grows, so do expectations for its price to rise. Wall Street firms and large financial institutions are showing strong interest in approving an ETH spot ETF. According to blockchain news outlet Cointelegraph, Bill Qian, chairman of CypherCapital, recently stated that "Wall Street firms are now pushing to make ETF approval a reality."
Matt Hogan, Head of Global Research at Bitwise Asset Management, said there is a 50% chance that an Ethereum ETF will be approved by May. Steve Kurtz, global head of Galaxy Asset Management, said there is a 50% chance that an Ethereum ETF will be approved by May, and a 75% chance by the end of 2024. Also on April 19 (local time), James Seyffart, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said on Twitter that "I think it (the ETH ETF) will ultimately be rejected this round," according to blockchain news outlet CoinDesk. John Lo, founder of Recharge Capital, said that the approval of an Ethereum spot ETF is less certain than the previous approval of a bitcoin spot ETF in the US.
Amidst all this speculation, expectations are high for Ethereum's price to rise. Some analysts are now predicting that the price of ETH could break through $5,400 by 2024, according to blockchain news outlet Cointelegraph. "We expect ETH to reach oversold conditions this year," analysts at Bitfinex said. However, by the time it reaches that level, the highs could be well above the $5400 level."
Ethereum (ETH) has regained the lead in non-fungible token (NFT) sales. According to blockchain media outlet Forecast, ETH NFT sales rose 12.06% to $12.47 million on Tuesday (local time), taking the top spot. Bitcoin (BTC) NFT sales, which topped the list this week, fell to second place with $10.9 million. In third place was Solana (SOL) with $7.67 million. Meanwhile, Ethereum developers have agreed to increase the maximum stake for validators in the upcoming Pectra upgrade from the current 32 ETH to 2048 ETH, The Block reported today. The proposal was discussed at the Ethereum developer meeting on April 21. The Ethereum Core development team agreed to include the proposal, known as EIP-7251, in the Pectra upgrade scheduled for late 2024.
