Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, today hit a peak of $316, its highest price since June 2019. The current price of Ethereum is $308, according to data from metrics site CoinMarketCap

The pump started way back on Wednesday night (UTC), when Ethereum, in about ten minutes, rose from $245 to $262. But no dump followed. Instead, on Thursday afternoon, it increased once again, from $265 to $277. Then an upward crawl, reaching $285 by Saturday afternoon.

And then came the latest boom. Between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, Ethereum rose by ten percent, from $285 to $316.

Ethereum was joined in its success by elder sibling Bitcoin, the oldest cryptocurrency and the largest by market capitalization. Bitcoin surpassed $10,000 for a few moments on Sunday morning, the first time it’s done so since the beginning of June, bucking almost two months of near-stagnation. 

Ethereum’s price increase likely has something to do with the rise of DeFi, or decentralized finance. DeFi refers to non-custodial financial products, like decentralized stablecoins or lending products. Most DeFi protocols live on Ethereum. 

DeFi is a massively expanding industry. Yesterday, Decrypt reported that there was $4 billion locked in DeFi smart contracts. That’s a lot, but consider the growth: on Tuesday, $3 billion was locked in DeFi protocols. About two and a half weeks ago, on July 7, it hit $2 billion.

DeFi has been rapidly expanding ever since the trend of yield farming. The trend, which started in mid-June, involves users earning token incentives from DeFi lending protocols in exchange for depositing their cryptocurrency. 

Tokens from the top DeFi lending protocols, $LEND (from Aave) and $COMP (from Compound), have spiked in value. (Granted, $COMP was only introduced on June 18, but quickly increased from $80 to $319 within a week, before settling at about $161.)

What’s good for DeFi, clearly, is good for Ethereum.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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