Why did Ethereum 2.0 become so popular?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably noticed that the popularity and expectations for Ethereum are constantly growing. While in the early stages of the bull market we only saw institutions buy Bitcoin, we now also see large buyers like Grayscale stacking up ETH.

The reason behind this is the much-awaited Ethereum update from PoW into a PoS powered blockchain, otherwise known as Ethereum 2.0. But why did the popular project experience a large surge of popularity with this update? In this article, we delve into the specifics of ETH 2.0 and what it means for the future of Ethereum and its smart contract network. Let’s delve in.

The much-awaited release

Ethereum 2.0 first launched on the first of December, after more than 520.000 ETH tokens were staked for the “launch” of the project.

We have liftoff. 🚀

Thank you to the devs, the researchers, educators and community members who made this happen.

See you on December 1st @ noon UTC. pic.twitter.com/bZ15EDefMK

— Eth 2.0 Deposit Contract – Progress Meter Bot (@DepositEth) November 24, 2024

Through the project launch, all participating ERC20 addresses with more than 32 ETH staked within them will start receiving rewards. All this on a monthly basis. For those that don’t know how staking works, it is an easy way to earn passive income through interest paid upon a “locked” amount of cryptocurrency for a specific period of time.

In the case of Ethereum, the rewards are not set, but the estimations range between 4%-15% APY. And with a cryptocurrency that is as established as Ethereum, any return on investment is a massive win for the whole crypto space.

Why ETH 2.0 is the catalyst to increased popularity?

The team behind Ethereum certainly didn’t release their upgrade during this time by random. The introduction of ETH 2.0 comes st a time where:

• The market sentiment is improving massively due to the nearly full recovery of BTC.
• The economic instability forces more and more retail investors to consider cryptocurrencies as a safe haven asset.
• More than ever, millennials have become aware of the concept of investing and show a particular interest in types of investments that can earn them passive income.

It comes as no surprise that the majority of investors that purchase cryptocurrency are between the ages of 21 and 30. In other words, the market consists of Millenials and Gen Ys. In general, both of these generations are well aware of the concept of investing.

Additionally, they seem to trust the banking system less than older generations did. Due to this, any investment opportunity that offers a stable monthly return with little to no risk is definitely something worth exploring. And Ethereum is just that.

Ethereum price prediction 2024

With one of the biggest upgrades to the second most popular cryptocurrency only recently being introduced to the public, it might be safe to assume that the price of Ethereum may experience massive growth within 2024.

There are of course many variables that come into play but it is safe to assume that eventually, we will see ETH being priced (once again) at a 0,1 value to the ETH/BTC market pair. More specifically, this means that if Bitcoin eventually builds up to a value of $100.000 per coin, Ethereum should follow at an approximate value of $10.000. Note that this amount may be even higher since the ATH of the trading pair was 0,15 ETH/BTC. In case Ethereum repeats this (e.g. in case of an altseason right after BTC peaks) we could see Ethereum being worth $15.000 before the end of 2024.

Ethereum is also available to trade on ETH ticker at Binance exchange. Here's a guide about how to trade at Binance.

Wrapping it up

You should now have a better idea of the reasons behind Ethereum’s popularity and how it is linked to ETH 2.0. More specifically, and to summarize the key points in this post:

• The introduction of passive income makes ETH interesting to more Millenial and Gen Y investors.
• A massive update to a top-5 cryptocurrency in the midst of a bull market will undoubtedly cause more positive market sentiment.
• The introduction of this update in the midst of economic instability, growing inflation rates, and near-zero bank interest makes all that more important.

Keep in mind that this post is simply meant to serve as an educational resource and does not constitute financial advice.