Ethereum hits $4K for first time since December 2021

Ether has crossed $4,000 for the first time since December 2021.

ETH has been on a run this week, following bitcoin hitting a fresh all-time high. It’s up nearly 16% in the past seven days, according to CoinGecko, and up roughly 157% over the past year. 

The all-time high sits at $4,878, per CoinGecko. ETH’s market cap sits at $478 billion. 

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade is scheduled for March 13, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The upgrade is set to introduce proto-danksharding to the Ethereum blockchain, meaning that rollups under EIP-4844 can add “blobs” of data on a beacon node.

Read more: CFTC’s Behnam says Prometheum’s ETH stance could create inter-agency conflict 

Bitcoin, earlier this week, carved out a new all-time high, topping $69,000. Bitcoin’s positive momentum follows the launch of the spot bitcoin ETFs.The funds, which received official approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, have seen a lot of volumes and flows — both in and out — showing investor interest in the products. 

As Blockworks previously reported, net inflows to spot bitcoin ETFs hover around $9.4 billion so far.

The SEC is currently mulling similar ETFs that would hold ETH, though a decision on such funds has yet to be made. BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark 21Shares are some of the companies that have proposed such funds.

In February, Ark 21Shares amended its filing to include potential language around staking, though it’s unclear if the SEC will allow the proposals to include such language if they decide to approve them.

A decision on the funds is expected in May. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart told Blockworks earlier this year that he believes there’s a 60% chance the SEC approves the funds in May. 

Earlier this week, the SEC delayed decisions on the proposals from BlackRock and Fidelity.

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