Ethereum hits new ATH after Altair upgrade shows clear path to the merge
The price of ETH has been on a bullish tear recently. After dropping to around $1,780 on July 21, it has since gained 147% to sit at around $4,400. The price of Ether (ETH) has bounced to a new all-time high (ATH) on Friday as it hit $4,400.97 at around 1:02 am UTC, according to the ETH/USD price indexes on Coinbase and CoinMarketCap. At the time of writing, ETH is currently priced at $4,380, with the asset surging around 46.6% since the start of October. CoinMarketCap’s price index indicates that the previous ATH was only eight days ago, with the asset reaching a price of $4,308.48 on Oct. 21.
ETH has been on a bullish tear since dropping to around $1,780 on July 21 and has since gained 147% to rise to a new point of price discovery.
Cointelegraph reported on Thursday that the Ethereum 2.0 Altair Beacon Chain update had a successful start, with 98.7% of the nodes upgraded at the time. A successful Altair upgrade to the Beacon Chain was seen as an important factor clearing the way to the merge with the Ethereum mainnet and the transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in Ethereum 2.0.
Ethereum’s success is also being driven by the platform’s use in the booming decentralized finance and nonfungible token sectors. They highlight ongoing rising demand for Ether in the future, thus ensuring additional tailwinds to its bullish outlook in Q4 2021 and possibly into 2022. Since July, Ethereum has also undergone important upgrades, such as the London hard fork that introduced a deflationary burning mechanism to the asset as part of the network’s fee structure.
The overall market sentiment in crypto has also been positive of late, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approving multiple Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded funds to launch on the New York Stock Exchange. Bitcoin (BTC) hit new all-time high prices in the wake of the news.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 64% | 72 | $96 063.98 | -0.47% | -2.09% | $1 901 129 195 801 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 70% | 59 | $3 691.69 | -0.43% | 9.67% | $444 635 752 324 |  |
|
| 3 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 58.8% | 88 | $2.44 | 30.24% | 64.85% | $139 283 395 122 |  |
|
| 4 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 94.4% | 1 | $1.000651 | 0.02% | -0.04% | $134 209 508 790 |  |
|
| 5 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 67.2% | 74 | $228.81 | -2.94% | -9.79% | $108 719 187 334 |  |
|
| 6 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 78.8% | 31 | $647.33 | -0.64% | -2.19% | $93 221 263 075 |  |
|
| 7 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 57.6% | 93 | $0.428990 | 0.31% | 0.04% | $63 074 587 151 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 61.2% | 84 | $1.15 | 8.30% | 10.20% | $40 192 009 461 |  |
|
| 9 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 95.2% | 1 | $1.000073 | 0.01% | 0.02% | $39 943 477 005 |  |
|
| 10 |  AVAX |
Avalanche predictions | 66% | 69 | $48.46 | 9.61% | 7.76% | $19 833 796 680 |  |
|
| 11 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 61.2% | 80 | $0.209475 | 2.77% | 0.42% | $18 078 840 002 |  |
|
| 12 |  SHIB |
SHIBA INU predictions | 53.6% | 94 | $0.000030 | -1.42% | 16.50% | $17 769 142 939 |  |
|
| 13 |  TON |
Toncoin predictions | 66.4% | 62 | $6.66 | -1.15% | 8.82% | $16 957 202 724 |  |
|
| 14 |  XLM |
Stellar predictions | 58.8% | 89 | $0.534373 | 6.22% | 2.19% | $16 071 299 062 |  |
|
| 15 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 60.4% | 85 | $9.05 | 2.59% | -1.75% | $13 790 732 144 |  |
