Ethereum , the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, posted a significant gain in 2020 as the price of ETH increased by more than 450%. Ethereum has performed better than Bitcoin this year.
Ethereum is currently trading around $730, a significant jump from $129 at the start of 2020. On the other hand, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin is hovering around $28,000, compared to around $7,200 at the start of this year. BTC posted a nearly 300% gain since the start of 2020.
ETH price is not the only indicator that shows its performance. Grayscale, a leading cryptocurrency asset management firm reported growing interest in ETH-related investment products earlier this year. Michael Sonnenshein, Managing Director at Grayscale Investments, outlined the growing interest of institutional investors in Ethereum.
“Over the course of 2020, we are seeing a new group of investors who are Ethereum-first and in some cases Ethereum-only. There’s a growing conviction around ETH as an asset class. The development of the asset class has continued to solidify itself,” he mentioned in an interview.
Ethereum’s Price Action
On the last day of 2020, Ethereum touched the $750 mark, its highest level since March 2018. The price of ETH is still far away from its all-time high of $1380, but the recent price action shows that the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is set to test new highs in 2021. ETH’s recent introduction of Beacon Chain and its network upgrade to make the entire system more efficient attracted several institutional investors to participate in Ethereum 2.0 staking. The current market cap of ETH stands at around $83 billion.
Due to the growing interest of investors in Ethereum 2.0, several cryptocurrency exchanges started offering ETH staking services, including Binance. Finance Magnates earlier reported about the support from cryptocurrency exchange Gemini for the latest upgrade of the ETH network. But, the key driver has been the institutional adoption of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. Institutional investors started including ETH in their investment portfolios this year.
