TL;DR Breakdown
- ETH price crossed the $1,400 mark today.
- Santiment says the crypto asset is seeing a surge in the numbers of its investors.
The second-largest crypto asset by market cap, Ethereum, had an upturn in its value as it surged past the $1,400 mark earlier today. The digital asset was, however, unable to continue this run as its price corrected to $1,375.
Ethereum Price rise
In recent times, comparison has been made between the two top digital assets because Ethereum has had a Bitcoin-like consolidation. Available data shows that Ether could go on a run that would mimic the earlier bull run of the flagship crypto asset that culminated in the value of the asset being driven to new heights.
According to Santiment, an on-chain data provider, ETH is beginning to witness an influx of new investors into its ecosystem as they are also beginning to see the asset as a viable means of investment. If this should continue, it would allow the second-largest crypto asset to continue its recent price rise momentum.
However, despite the rise in the numbers of its investors, the token has seen quite a large number of it moved out of exchanges, according to CryptoQuant. Data from the site shows that the total number of Ether held in exchanges is at an all-time low and in the last 30 days, over $4 billion worth of ETH has been moved off exchanges.
But these Ether tokens might actually have been moved to Ethereum 2.0 for staking, cold storages or even decentralized exchanges. Glassnode reported that the total value held in ETH2.0 deposit contracts recently summed up to $4 billion.
Ethereum gas fees also rising
Santiment has also reported that the gas fee for Ethereum has risen to a 3-week high of over $11. The crypto analytical site says that this could imply that a possible cooldown period is in the offing after which it is expected that the fee would return to normal.
The rise in gas fees can not be tied to the influx of new investors alone, taking into consideration the growth in DeFi activities recently. And with CME Group set to launch its Ether Futures Contract this month, the crypto asset could enjoy a new surge of institutional investors.
