Grayscale Report: What Triggers Ethereum Price?

• Grayscale Investments claimed that the recent price surge of Ethereum is driven by anticipation of the upcoming Denouement upgrade.
• In a new report released on Friday, Moore stated, ‘We believe the recent price performance is a reflection of the market anticipating this upgrade.’
• In the latest report, Grayscale’s analyst outlined a highly favorable situation for Ethereum. The price of Ether has increased by approximately 25% since the beginning of the year.

After the Ethereum price rose above $3000, Grayscale Investments investigated why Ethereum was rising.

Why is Ethereum Price Rising? Grayscale Explains!

While most market observers link Ethereum’s recent price increase to optimism surrounding the potential approval of a spot Ether ETF, asset manager Grayscale Investments suggested that the cryptocurrency’s appreciation is due to the upcoming Denouement upgrade, which is expected to increase transaction throughput and reduce costs on the network.

Research Analyst William Ogden Moore from Grayscale, in a new report released on Friday, stated, ‘We believe the recent price performance is a reflection of the market anticipating this upgrade,’ and added, ‘The Denouement upgrade scheduled for March 13, 2024, is a significant step forward and may help Ethereum compete in scalability against faster chains, particularly like Solana.’

The new report from Grayscale’s analyst presents a notably positive outlook for Ethereum. The price of Ether has increased by approximately 25% since the beginning of the year. However, the report notes that Ethereum did not outperform in terms of price in 2023 compared to the industry and especially against competitors like Solana, which experienced over 900% growth last year.

Taking a bullish stance on Ethereum is perhaps not surprising, considering Grayscale’s attempt to convert its confidence in Ethereum into a spot Ether ETF. Some believe that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), having approved spot bitcoin ETFs that began trading last month, will likely approve the new financial instrument, possibly in May.

Smart Contract Applications

In addition to the upcoming Denouement upgrade and the potential approval of spot Ether ETFs, the Grayscale report identified ‘net deflationary supply’ and ‘creating network revenue’ as other reasons for optimism.

Grayscale also suggested that ETH could reach more smart contract applications. Moore wrote, ‘If Ethereum can be more competitive not only in transaction capacity and cost but also in terms of high security and censorship resistance, it could position itself to capture smart contract applications such as stablecoins or tokenized financial assets that require a high level of security and censorship resistance.’