Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, has recorded its single biggest daily gain in over 20 days amid growing confidence in the platform, experts say.
Ether (ETH) has been performing exceptionally well, thanks in large part to an April 6 close that saw the price finish up by 20 percent – its highest single day gain since March 13. ETH is currently up 17.25 percent over a 24-hour period, having lost some ground in the early Asian hours of trading.
Industry experts told CoinDesk the rise can likely be attributed to growing confidence in a planned system-wide upgrade known as Eth 2.0 slated for July 2020.
The 2.0 upgrade, often called Serenity, promises higher transaction throughput and a new security model under proof-of-stake (PoS). Eth 2.0 has been in development since 2015 but had failed to gain traction due to the highly technical expertise required to pursue it, until now.
"From a developer standpoint, Ethereum is the most popular blockchain where most of the smart contract and dapp activity occurs," says Demian Brener, founder and CEO of OpenZeppelin, a leading security audit firm for Ethereum.
"People are realizing that Ethereum's network effects especially around community and composability (ETH smart contracts interacting with each other) are stronger than they thought, which might lead to increased trust in the platform and thus higher prices," Brener added.
See also: Vitalik Buterin Explains the New Tech Behind Eth 2.0 (video)
Given the five-year development cycle for the Ethereum network, not a single challenger cryptocurrency has made a dent in ether's leading position, according to Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner at Hong Kong-based blockchain investment and trading firm Kenetic, who echoed Brener's sentiments.
"Ethereum continues to be the veteran number two coin in crypto, and its recent price surge demonstrates traders' long-term belief in its market position," Chu said.
"Price aside, the real story is how Ethereum continues to march towards Eth 2.0 and resolving legitimate criticisms around network speed and scalability. In today's environment, the name of the game is survival, and no protocol and developer community has survived at this high level better than Ethereum," Chu added.