Ethereum Pops 4% as Solana Nips at Its Heels

Ethereum (ETH) has continued its steady climb of the last couple days, jumping 4% in 24 hours. The second-largest cryptocurrency is now trading for $2,324, according to CoinGecko.

Among the latest news: Ethereum core developers yesterday solidified plans to roll out DenCun—the next upgrade for the network—on testnets beginning in January. This next round of updates will introduce proto-danksharding and so-called data "blobs."

In really simple terms, they new features are meant to significantly reduce high gas fees and improve the network's capacity. ETH's newly buoyant price was enough to convince crypto trader Peter Brandt to reverse his prediction that Ethereum was barreling towards an "immediate price collapse."

The positive sentiment extended to Ethereum scaling solutions, as well.

Optimism (OP) has jumped by 27% in the past day. The token behind the Ethereum scaling solution is currently the best-performing cryptocurrency, priced in at $3.06. And Arbitrum (ARB), the token behind the protocol which aims to speed up transaction times and cut fees on Ethereum, is up 19% in 24 hours, and is now trading hands for $1.35.

Of the major coins and tokens, Polygon's MATIC is doing well, surging by more than 8% in the past day. It is now priced at $0.84.

Meanwhile Solana (SOL) is still surging, albeit at a slightly less blistering pace than it has been.

The fifth largest cryptocurrency by market cap has been flirting with a $100 per coin price, having jumped 2% in the past day. In fact, it was briefly the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap when it inched past Binance's BNB exchange token. As of this writing, BNB has a market cap of $41.7 billion and is holding onto its edge over SOL's $40.6 billion, according to CoinGecko.

There's been a big DeFi shift happening, as NFT and meme coin traders have flocked to Solana to chase BONK and Dogwifhat. In fact, BONK last week got a listing on Coinbase—an honorific that sets it apart from a lot of other meme coins.

And just two weeks ago, NFT trading volume on Solana edged past Ethereum. But as of this writing, Ethereum had reclaimed its spot with $11.7 million worth of NFT trades in the past day compared to Solana's $10.6 million. The biggest contributors to NFT volume on the Ethereum network in the past 24 hours have been the Pudgy Penguins, Moonbirds, and Azuki collections.

Even so, SOL has been on a persistent climb over the last two months, as big money investors eye-up the asset. This time last year, it was expected to take a nosedive due to its proximity to collapsed crypto exchange FTX and its now-convicted founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Over the past week, it has been the winner out of the top digital assets by market cap—and has jumped by 28%.

While Bitcoin (BTC) may be lying flat—it hasn't budged in the past day—it has climbed 4% in seven days and over 20% in the past month.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.