At the time of writing this article, Ether was trading at $4,551, representing a gain of 4.40 percent in the previous 24 hours. The rise in the use of Ethereum’s blockchain network – which is used to develop decentralised applications (dapps) and transact non-fiat currencies (NFTs) – as well as the expectation that it will prove fundamental in any future metaverse, which is being built by tech giants such as Meta Inc., have all contributed to the rise in the price of the cryptocurrency (formerly Facebook).
In an interview with The Independent, Dragos Dunica, co-founder of decentralised app shop DappRadar, said: “Everyone is keeping a close eye on Bitcoin, but for me, it’s Ethereum’s developments that are considerably more exciting.”
“As the leading smart contract platform, Ethereum’s price is directly influenced by the increasing adoption of decentralised applications (dapps) across the most active categories of DeFi (decentralised finance), NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and gaming. Usage is at an all-time high, which is extremely positive news for Ethereum. Before Christmas, I would not be shocked if the price reaches $10,000.”
A significant contributing factor to Ether’s upward trend is that the number of tokens locked in the Eth2 staking contract has reached 8 million for the first time, continuing the process of depleting the available circulating supply and exerting upward pressure on the price of Ether. On the whole, the consensus view for Ether is optimistic, with several experts predicting that the token will reach $10,000 by the end of 2021.
Plethora of other top cryptocurrencies, like Polkadot (DOT), have recently reached new all-time highs, while bitcoin has also just reached a new all-time high. The price increases are in line with projections made by numerous major cryptocurrency experts that BTC and the rest of the cryptocurrency sector will have a record-breaking year in the last quarter of 2021.