The number of Ethereum addresses is on the increase as the price of ETH builds momentum for higher levels. According to data from Glassnode, the number of Ethereum addresses with at least 0.01 ETH has surpassed 10 million. Though the addresses have been increasing since 2017, the steepest increase so far started from the second quarter of 2020 and has not slowed down since.
Most of the increase could have been driven by the DeFi boom which occurred in 2020 that attracted several investors into yield farming which is based on the Ethereum network. The boom led to high anticipation of a higher price for the asset since then, which may have also contributed to the increasing number of addresses.
Price Momentum Builds as Top Whales Withdraw from Exchanges
A massive withdrawal of digital assets from exchanges has historically preceded a price rise. It is no exception for Ethereum as the price started building a strong upward momentum when ETH whales started withdrawing their assets from exchanges. The percentage of tokens on exchanges has dropped from 2.33% five months ago to 22.06%.
Before now, Ethereum has been known to follow Bitcoin’s price movement. However, as a result of the ongoing momentum, the price has detached from Bitcoin, according to crypto data aggregator Santiment. The number of top non-exchange wallets has increased by over 21 percent for ETH held over the past week.
This suggests a bullish sentiment among the Ethereum whales and the expectation that the price may be on its way up. The increasing number of addresses also suggests that more people are developing interest in the second-largest cryptocurrency and more who have not bought before may be wading into the space to get some.
Ethereum market performance
As the number of addresses increases and as the sentiment continues to remain bullish, Ethereum is no disappointment in price. The asset reached a high of over $1,400 today which is a new all-time high since 2017. The price has been on a steep rise and analysts expect it to keep going that way.
The number of daily transactions has also increased dramatically. According to data from Messari, the transaction volume has increased per day and has increased to $12 billion, $3 billion above that of Bitcoin which has been at the forefront of the rally. At the current rate, analysts expect Ethereum’s price to hit at least $10,000 in 2021.
Though this may sound like a wild prediction, Bitcoin has also beaten the expectations of both investors and crypto analysts to reach as high as $41,000 this year. One thing that is known to drive the price of digital assets is adoption. As the number of wallets continues to grow, Ethereum’s chances of a big move up increases. Already, some think Ethereum is currently highly undervalued and overdue for a big rise. Could 2021 be the year for the big rise?