The Ethereum community is excitedly buzzing after the seamless deployment of the Dencun upgrade on the Holesky testnet Wednesday, signalling a significant milestone for the crypto network. This groundbreaking development ignited a surge in Ethereum’s value, with the price soaring to an impressive $2,425.
The Dencun upgrade, incorporating EIP-4844, aims to slash transaction costs for Layer 2 chains, boosting Ethereum’s scalability. A highlight is the ‘Proto-Danksharding’ option, which will enhance scalability by introducing a new transaction type for large data sets and slash fees for rollups-based Layer 2 solutions by up to 10 times.
The successful deployment of the Dencun upgrade marked a major milestone for Ethereum, paving the way for its anticipated release on the mainnet on March 13 2024, following earlier activations on testnets like Goerli and Sepolia.
That said, it is important to note that the Dencun upgrade is positioned within the “The Surge” phase, the second of six phases outlined in Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s recent visionary Ethereum roadmap. The Surge phase prioritizes enhancements pertaining to scalability through rollups and data sharding. This phase follows The Merge in late 2022, where Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus blockchain.
Subsequent phases, each shaping Ethereum’s architectural trajectory, will include ‘The Scourge’, focusing on upgrades for censorship resistance and decentralization, in addition to mitigating protocol risks like MEV and ‘The Verge’, which will concentrate on facilitating block verification.
Additional phases will include ‘The Purge’, aimed at reducing computational costs associated with running nodes and simplifying the protocol and ‘The Splurge’, encompassing various upgrades that defy categorization within previous phases.
Meanwhile, market sentiment surrounding Ethereum has remained bullish, reflected in the recent surge in its price.
“People underestimate the significance of the Dencun upgrade on Ethereum. If that’s fully applied to the ecosystem, chances are significant that Ethereum becomes the secure settlement layer the ecosystem is looking for. Good signs that it launched on the final testnet.” Renowned crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe wrote.
In a tweet, renowned analyst ‘Crypto Patel’ predicted a bullish trajectory for Ethereum, suggesting a potential surge towards the $3,000 mark. Notably, with Ethereum successfully breaching the $2,425 resistance level, he stressed that support above this level is crucial for sustaining this upward momentum.
Technical indicators also support the optimistic outlook for Ethereum’s price, with the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator signalling bullish momentum and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering above the neutral level at 58.
ETH was trading at $2,425 at press time, reflecting a 5.34% surge over the past 48 hours.