In the past, Ethereum network upgrades have rarely affected the price of the network’s native cryptocurrency Ether (ETH). However, following the latest Dencun upgrade, the price of Ethereum’s Ether has dropped noticeably. In the last 24 hours, Ethereum has dropped from a high of $4,082 to $3,932, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The drop comes contrary to previous predictions, where holders expected the price of ETH to surge. Some analysts predicted that Ether could go as high as breaking $5,000. At press time, the currency is down 5% in the last 24 hours, and 2% overall in the past week.
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According to a press release by the Ethereum Foundation, the upgrade follows last year’s Shapella upgrade. It includes several changes, including the introduction of ephemeral data blobs with EIP-4844, also known as “protodanksharding.” These blobs help reduce L2 transaction fees.
Historically, Ethereum Network upgrades haven’t had huge impacts on Ether’s price, notably just small surges. In the week leading up to the Berlin upgrade in April 2021, Ether rallied 7.5%, and the price went up an additional 3% on the day of the upgrade. Furthermore, the London Upgrade and Shapella upgrades also gave slight bumps to the price of ETH before launch. The Dencun upgrade, however, appears to be having an adverse effect.
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With the Dencun Upgrade causing an increase in selling pressure, ETH is dropping at a worrisome rate. One hope for Ether’s price is the battle for approval of spot Ethereum ETFs. However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again pushed back decision dates on pending applications. Hence, some ETH holders are losing hope of approval, which may further cause Ether to crash.