staked Ethereum (ETH) The amount sits at an all-time high of 8.9 million ETH. As of today, the total value of locked ETHs is over $28 billion.
Ethereum’s ETH 2.0 update thus managed to reach a new milestone. According to on-chain data from crypto analytics platform Glassnode, the total value in the ETH 2.0 deposit contract reached an all-time high of 8,965,186 ETH.
📈 #Ethereum $ETH Total Value in the ETH 2.0 Deposit Contract just reached an ATH of 8,965,186 ETH
View metric:https://t.co/SzbMPqvhlb pic.twitter.com/i3dmm5B6dO
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) January 8, 2022
Despite being at an all-time high, the number of ETH staked is still below the all-time high dollar value. The contract also peaked in dollars in November, when ETH reached an all-time high of $4,870. According to Etherscan, the highest dollar value of the ETH 2.0 contract is approximately $39 billion.
But with this milestone, more than seven percent of all ETH in circulation is now ETH 2.0 contractwhat is included and when is waiting for the network to switch to proof-of-stake (PoS). The move to PoS is expected to happen this year after the blockchain starts its journey in 2020 with the launch of the Beacon chain.
Speaking recently about the Ethereum blockchain’s plans for the year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin noted that about 50% of the planned transition has already been completed.
He added that the next stage of the upgrade is consolidation, which will officially transform the Ethereum network from a proof-of-work protocol to PoS. The merge will be marked by the union of the Ethereum mainnet with the PoS Beacon Chain. This will benefit the network by making it more energy efficient. The next phase of the upgrade, ripple, will introduce sharding, bringing scalability features to the network.
If the upgrades are not made on time, Ethereum still risks losing its dominance.
The exact timeline for these upgrades is currently unknown. That’s why analysts at global investment bank JP Morgan recently Ethereum networkwarned that DeFi could lose market dominance to its competitors. In a note written by the bank’s managing director of global markets strategy, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, they confirmed that at current speed, Ethereum’s scaling solutions may arrive too late and other blockchains may surpass Ethereum in DeFi market share. The warning comes at a time when Ethereum’s DeFi dominance is currently around 70% and is falling rapidly.
Contrary to this view, Bloomberg Intelligence’s first Crypto Outlook report of 2022 is still pretty bullish for Ethereum. According to the report, Ethereum is expected to continue to be the dominant blockchain alongside Bitcoin.
While ETH price is taking a hit along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, the report expects Ether to break the $5,000 barrier by the end of this year. Currently, Ether I is trading around $3,100, down 13.9% over the past seven days.
Disclaimer: What is written here is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are high-risk investments. Every investment decision is under the individual’s own responsibility. Finally, Koinfinans and the author of this content cannot be held responsible for personal investment decisions.