Ether new ATH Shoots up DeFi and Ethereum 2.0 Valuation

The second-largest digital currency by market capitalization, Ether (ETH), reached a new all-time high in market price today. For the record, this is the second time the cryptocurrency is topping its previous ATHs. Many people in the Ethereum space are going bullish amid the development, expecting to see a US$2,000 priced ETH sooner this year. 

Meanwhile, the increased price of the cryptocurrency has also contributed to the massive growth in the value of assets locked in decentralized protocols, including the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract. 

Ether Made new ATH at Over US$1,600 

According to Coinmarketcap, the second-largest soared to a new price high of US$1,689 on February 4, surpassing the previous ATH at over US$1,400. At press time, however, the cryptocurrency was trading a little below the new ATH, precisely at US$1,622. On a seven-day count, the crypto is up by more than 23 percent. At the current price, ETH has a market capitalization of US$187 billion, from a circulating supply of 114.5 million ETH.

DeFi Markets Exceeds US$30 Billion

Following the spike in ETH price, there is also notable growth in the total value of assets locked in the decentralized finance protocols. Per DeFi Pulse, the industry’s analytics platform, there are currently about $32.48 billion in assets locked in DeFi. Interestingly, the number of Ether locked in DeFi increased by more than 780,000 from January 11 to date. The lending protocol Maker dominates the market by 17.99 percent.

The Ethereum community is still showing a strong level of confidence in the Ethereum 2.0 network. Data from Eth2 Launchpad showed that 2,937,378 ETH has been staked on the deposit contract. In today’s price, these staked coins will be worth over US$4.7 billion.