Why did the price of ETH go up?

Ethereum (ETH) increased by 0.96% to $4,491.74 over the past 24 hours, continuing steady gains of 1.93% over the last week and 3.6% over the past month. The main factors driving this growth include:

1. Optimism around clearer U.S. crypto regulations
2. A technical breakout above the $4,450 support level
3. Record-high stablecoin supply, indicating more liquidity in decentralized finance (DeFi)
4. Large investors accumulating ETH derivatives

In-Depth Analysis

1. Positive Regulatory Developments

Summary:
On September 16, the U.S. House of Representatives reviewed two important bills: the GENIUS Act, aimed at modernizing the market, and the CLARITY Act, which focuses on how tokens are classified. Industry leaders, including Michael Saylor, have been pushing for clearer crypto regulations (Bitget).

Why it matters:
Clearer rules reduce uncertainty, making it easier for big institutions to invest in Ethereum-based products. For example, assets under management (AUM) for ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) reached $24.22 billion this month (Global Metrics).

What to watch:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) final decision on ETH ETFs that include staking features.

2. Technical Market Signals

Summary:
Ethereum’s price has moved back above its 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $4,438 and is holding above the key $4,450 support level. The MACD indicator, which helps identify momentum, turned positive (+5.6), while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 54.29 suggests neutral momentum.

Why it matters:
Traders see the $4,450 to $4,500 range as an important support zone. If ETH can maintain a price above $4,743 (a key Fibonacci retracement level), it could aim for resistance near $4,953.

What to watch:
Whether Ethereum can stay above $4,400 during U.S. trading hours.

3. Surge in Stablecoin Liquidity

Summary:
Ethereum’s stablecoin supply reached a new all-time high of over $160 billion on September 15, led by USDT and USDC stablecoins (Bitrue).

Why it matters:
Large stablecoin reserves often signal that investors are preparing to move funds into ETH or other DeFi assets. Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) in DeFi increased by 8% this month to $61.8 billion, according to TokenInsight.

Conclusion

Ethereum’s recent price gains are driven by a combination of regulatory progress, strong technical support, and growing activity in DeFi. While open interest in derivatives dropped 7% to $957 billion, spot trading volumes rose 6.8% to $33.17 billion, indicating cautious but strategic buying.

Key event to watch: The upcoming Fusaka upgrade testnet scheduled for late September, which aims to improve Ethereum’s gas efficiency and data availability.

What could affect the price of ETH?

Ethereum’s price outlook is shaped by new technology upgrades and cautious market sentiment.

1. Protocol Upgrades – The Fusaka upgrade could improve scalability (Nov 2025)
2. ETF Momentum – Over $4 billion in inflows show growing institutional interest
3. Whale Activity – Large holders added $500 million+ worth of ETH in one week

Deep Dive

1. Protocol Scalability & Fusaka Upgrade (Positive Outlook)

Overview: Ethereum plans the Fusaka hard fork between November 5-12, 2025. This update includes 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as PeerDAS, which improves data availability, and increases the gas limit to about 150 million. This follows the Pectra upgrade in May 2025, which introduced smart accounts.

What this means: These changes aim to increase transaction speed to around 10,000 transactions per second on the main Ethereum network (Layer 1) and reduce fees. This could encourage more use of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Past upgrades like The Merge in 2022 led to a 77% price increase for Ethereum within 90 days.

2. Ethereum ETF Evolution (Mixed Impact)

Overview: Spot Ethereum ETFs currently manage $24.2 billion as of September 17, 2025, with BlackRock’s ETHA ETF holding $15.1 billion. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reviewing ETFs that include staking features. Meanwhile, futures contracts on Ethereum through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have an open interest of $949 billion.

What this means: If staking ETFs get approved (possibly in Q4 2025), it could drive demand based on yield generation. However, about 45% of current ETF inflows are hedged using derivatives (Bitget), indicating that investors are cautious.

3. Whale Accumulation & Supply Shock (Positive Outlook)

Overview: Ethereum addresses holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH have added 138,000 ETH (worth about $500 million) in the past week (CoinMarketCap). The amount of ETH available on exchanges has dropped to 10.4%, the lowest in 13 months.

What this means: Similar accumulation by large holders happened before Ethereum’s price surged from $2,000 to $4,800 in 2024. However, these large holders might sell at key resistance levels, such as around $4,700.

Conclusion

Ethereum’s future depends on successfully implementing the Fusaka upgrade and turning ETF inflows into real network growth. The price range between $4,500 and $4,700 will be a key test to see if upgrades and institutional interest can outweigh profit-taking. Key question: Will the Altcoin Season Index at 70 indicate continued Ethereum dominance, or a shift toward smaller cryptocurrencies?

Will Fusaka’s testnet results in late September 2025 confirm Ethereum’s claim of 10,000 transactions per second?

What are people saying about ETH?

Ethereum buzz swings between big price predictions and whale activity – here’s the latest:

1. Price watchers eye $5,000 as ETH nears all-time high
2. ETF inflows hit $461 million daily, driving institutional interest
3. Big investors (whales) bought $2.8 billion worth of ETH in six weeks
4. Developers launch Pectra upgrades and prepare Fusaka fork

In-Depth Look

1. @johnmorganFL: $5,000 Breakout Seen as Bullish

"ETH is less than 4% from its all-time high – breaking above $4,900 could push price toward $6,000"
– 8.1M followers · 2.3M impressions · August 15, 2025, 10:18 AM UTC
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What this means: Analysts see ETH’s price holding near $4,492 as a sign of building momentum. The $4,800 to $5,000 range is key — if ETH moves above this, automated trading systems may trigger more buying, especially in futures and options markets.

2. @BQYouTube: ETF Demand Surges

"16 days straight of ETH ETF inflows – assets under management up 57% in 30 days to $19.2 billion"
– 420K followers · 887K impressions · August 9, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC
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What this means: Big players like BlackRock and Fidelity account for 70% of recent ETF inflows, showing Wall Street’s growing long-term interest in Ethereum. Since about 2,700 ETH are created daily, and ETFs are buying more than that, this could lead to a shortage of available ETH.

3. @CryptoMinuteAI: Whales Buying the Dip

"Large wallets added 116,000 ETH ($265 million) during June’s price drop"
– 310K followers · 602K impressions · August 4, 2025, 7:54 AM UTC
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What this means: Wallets holding 10,000 or more ETH now control 41.4 million coins, about 34% of all ETH. This pattern is similar to what happened in 2017 before Ethereum’s huge price rally.

4. @ProtocolGuild: Developers Push Pectra Upgrade

"Gas limit raised to 45 million, staking made more accessible with 1 ETH validator tickets"
– 189K followers · 334K impressions · June 5, 2025, 3:03 PM UTC
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What this means: The May 2025 upgrade cut down storage needs for network nodes by 300GB and made it easier for everyday users to stake ETH with just 1 ETH, improving both network scalability and decentralization.

Conclusion

The overall outlook for Ethereum is positive but cautious. ETF inflows and whale buying show strong institutional confidence, but the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 68 suggests the market might be overbought. Keep an eye on the $4,440 support level — holding above this could confirm the $5,000 price target, while dropping below might lead to some profit-taking. For a clearer picture, watch weekly ETF flow updates and the upcoming Fusaka testnet launch planned for Q4 2025.

What is the latest news about ETH?

Ethereum is adapting to new regulations and technical improvements while stablecoin use reaches record levels. Here are the key updates:

1. Capitol Hill Crypto Hearings (September 16, 2025) – U.S. lawmakers discuss how Ethereum should be regulated, which could affect how big institutions use it.
2. Privacy Roadmap Released (September 15, 2025) – Ethereum’s Privacy Stewards team aims to make transactions and identities fully private.
3. Stablecoin Supply Hits Record $9.6 Billion (September 15, 2025) – Ethereum’s stablecoins like USDT and USDC are more popular than ever, showing strong liquidity but also raising regulatory concerns.

In-Depth Look

1. Capitol Hill Crypto Hearings (September 16, 2025)

What happened:
U.S. Congress held hearings on the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts, which propose tougher rules for crypto exchanges and clearer definitions for tokens. Ethereum’s role in decentralized finance (DeFi) and secure asset storage was a major topic. Former SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar called for quicker regulatory clarity.

What this means for you:
In the short term, this creates uncertainty for Ethereum’s price because the rules aren’t finalized. But in the long run, clearer regulations could encourage more institutions to use Ethereum safely, which would be good for its growth. Clear rules might also make Ethereum-based investment products less risky.
(Bitget)

2. Privacy Roadmap Released (September 15, 2025)

What happened:
Ethereum’s Privacy Stewards (PSE) shared their 2025 plan focusing on making transactions and user identities private. This includes technology like stealth addresses (which hide who is sending money), protecting transaction details, and making zero-knowledge proofs easier to use. They’re also working on private Layer 2 transfers and partnering with Aragon to improve governance privacy.

What this means for you:
This is good news for Ethereum because better privacy could attract businesses and governments that need secure, confidential transactions. However, these upgrades are complex and could face delays. The Ethereum Foundation sees privacy as a key priority to compete with other privacy-focused blockchains.
(MEXC)

3. Stablecoin Supply Hits Record $9.6 Billion (September 15, 2025)

What happened:
The total amount of stablecoins on Ethereum, mainly USDT and USDC, reached a new high of $9.6 billion. This shows strong demand and liquidity in decentralized finance but also highlights risks because these stablecoins are issued by centralized companies under regulatory scrutiny.

What this means for you:
This is neutral for Ethereum overall. High stablecoin supply helps DeFi grow and increases Ethereum transaction fees, which benefits the network. But if regulators take action against stablecoin issuers, it could disrupt the ecosystem. Key numbers to watch include total value locked (TVL) in DeFi and the share of stablecoin transactions (currently about 34%).
(Bitrue)

Conclusion

This week, Ethereum balanced progress on regulations, privacy improvements, and liquidity growth. While the outlook remains positive with more institutional interest and technical upgrades, regulatory challenges around stablecoins and policy delays could slow momentum. Will the GENIUS Act spark a compliance-driven rally for Ethereum, or will privacy technology advance faster than regulators can keep up?

What is expected in the development of ETH?

Ethereum’s development is progressing with key updates planned:

1. Fusaka Upgrade (November 2025) – Backend improvements to boost scalability and Layer 2 (L2) efficiency.
2. Danksharding Rollout (2026) – Introducing data “blobs” to make L2 transactions much cheaper.
3. Quantum Resistance & Lean Plan (2030s) – Preparing Ethereum to withstand future quantum computing threats.

In-Depth Look

1. Fusaka Upgrade (November 2025)

What is it?
The Fusaka upgrade, scheduled for November 2025, focuses on improving Ethereum’s backend systems. It includes features like PeerDAS (a method to ensure data availability) and gas fee optimizations (EIP-7623). These changes aim to stabilize transaction fees for rollups (a type of L2 solution) and increase the amount of work each block can handle, setting the stage for running multiple Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs) in parallel (Mint Blockchain).

Why it matters

• Positive: Makes L2 solutions more efficient and affordable, allowing Ethereum to process more transactions smoothly.
• Potential downside: Increasing gas limits might make it harder for smaller network participants (validators) to keep up, possibly favoring larger organizations.

2. Danksharding Implementation (2026)

What is it?
As part of Ethereum’s Surge phase, Danksharding introduces “blobs,” a new way to store rollup data cheaply on the Ethereum blockchain. This innovation can reduce L2 transaction costs by about 90% and helps prevent risks related to centralized transaction ordering (ethereum.org).

Why it matters

• Positive: Strengthens Ethereum’s role as the secure foundation for L2 networks, encouraging wider use.
• Potential downside: If delayed, projects might look to other solutions like Celestia for data availability.

3. Quantum-Resistant Security & Lean Plan (2030s)

What is it?
The Ethereum Lean Plan aims to dramatically increase transaction speeds—up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) on the main chain (L1) and over a million TPS through L2s. It also plans to add quantum-resistant cryptography to protect against future quantum computer attacks (CoinMarketCap).

Why it matters

• Positive: Ensures Ethereum remains a secure and reliable platform for global finance in the long term.
• Potential downside: These complex upgrades could slow down other development priorities or divide developer focus.

Conclusion

Ethereum’s roadmap carefully balances near-term improvements like Fusaka and Danksharding with ambitious future goals such as quantum resistance and lean infrastructure. The network is evolving into a modular system where the main chain provides security and L2 solutions drive innovation. While there are risks in executing these upgrades, they strengthen Ethereum’s position as a key player in decentralized technology.

The big question remains: will Ethereum focus next on improving user experience or maximizing decentralization?

What updates are there in the ETH code base?

Ethereum’s software received major updates in 2025, focusing on making the network faster, more secure, and easier to use.

1. Blob Capacity Expansion (May 2025) – Increased Layer-2 data handling by 33% through Pectra’s EIP-7691 upgrade.
2. Validator Staking Limit Increase (May 2025) – Raised the maximum amount a validator can stake to 2,048 ETH (EIP-7251).
3. Fusaka Testnet Progress (August 2025) – Introduced PeerDAS to improve scalable data availability.

Deep Dive

1. Blob Capacity Expansion (May 2025)

What happened: The Pectra upgrade (EIP-7691) increased the number of data blobs per block from 4 to 6 (target) and from 8 to 12 (maximum). This boosts Layer-2 throughput by about 33%, which helps reduce transaction fees on popular rollups like Arbitrum and Optimism during busy times.
Why it matters: Lower Layer-2 fees make Ethereum more attractive for decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs, encouraging more users and projects. However, the increase in data blobs could lead to higher storage needs for network nodes over time. (Source)

2. Validator Staking Limit Increase (May 2025)

What happened: With EIP-7251, validators can now stake up to 2,048 ETH, up from the previous limit of 32 ETH. This change simplifies staking for large institutions and reduces some network overhead.
Why it matters: This update is neutral for Ethereum overall. It makes staking more efficient for big players but raises concerns about centralization, as large entities like Coinbase could control more of the network. Also, penalties for bad behavior now increase with the size of the stake. (Source)

3. Fusaka Testnet Progress (August 2025)

What happened: The Fusaka upgrade, planned for late 2025, began testing on the devnet with PeerDAS (EIP-7594). This aims to increase blobs per block to 48, greatly improving data availability for Layer-2 rollups.
Why it matters: If successful, Fusaka could cut Layer-2 costs by about 80% compared to Pectra, making Ethereum even more scalable. However, validators may need more powerful hardware to support these changes. (Source)

Conclusion

Ethereum’s 2025 upgrades focus on scaling the network and offering more flexibility for large stakers, while balancing innovation with risks like centralization. With Fusaka’s PeerDAS coming soon, Ethereum could significantly improve its data availability, strengthening its position against competitors like Solana and other Layer-1 blockchains.