Ethereum network’s native cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) has again recorded a new all-time price level in its history. The second largest cryptocurrency in the world recorded a price index of $1623 which is its highest price yet and is increasingly looking northwards. Ethereum’s staking system is also now the world’s third largest staking network despite having less than 2% of total ETH locked up in place.
Ethereum sat idly by for some time as Bitcoin smashed records after records after it scaled its own long-term all-time high of $20k. However, eventually the cryptocurrency responded from around $600 onwards strongly, first making a dash to $1000 before continuing further. Its own previous long-term all-time high set back in 2018 of around $1300 was scaled in the ensuing weeks but still, progress remain sluggish at best. Now the cryptocurrency has jumped from around that level and is posting new all-time highs for fun again. ETH is valued at around $1623 at press time, up around 13% high from yesterday and also recording a new all-time high in history of its trading.
Image source: TradingView
Ethereum is in the process of completely shifting to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) based mining approach. However, it has only still enacted the Phase 0 of the planned update and a complete shift to a pure PoS system is not yet implemented. However, despite the limited transfer to PoS, Eth2, Ethereum’s staking network is now the world’s third largest staking system now. This is despite the fact that Ethereum was the last of the top 3 to starting staking operations and the fact that only 2% of ETH are currently being staked on the system.
Just for a simple explanatory purposes, staking is a process similar to interest in a fixed deposit account in a conventional bank. In this system, people lock their cryptocurrency for a pre-determined time and earn passive rewards on their deposits. Ethereum is currently the largest network in the world to offer staking services. Bitcoin, on the other hand is not a staking-based cryptocurrency and doesn’t offer staking rewards.
According to latest data, over 2.5 million ETH are currently locked in place for staking purposes which is around $4 billion according to latest exchange rate of the coin. By comparison, Polkadot (DOT) is currently the largest staking network in the world with over 60% of its supply ($10 billion) locked in staking contracts. Cardano (ADA) comes after it and it has over 71% of its supply in staking positions ($9.5 billion).
Image source: Marco Verch Professional under CC
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