Ethereum Price Spikes 5% on ETH 2.0 Contract Release

While the world awaits the results of the US election, one of the most anticipated events in the cryptocurrency industry is finally achieving greater certainty: Ethereum 2.0, the long-awaited upgrade to the blockchain network, will launch on December 1, according to the Ethereum Foundation.

The news, it seems, is being taken very well by the markets: the price of Ethereum jumped by more than 4% following the announcement. ETH is once again trading above the $400 per token mark after falling as low as $370 earlier this week.

At the moment, Ethereum is trading for right around $401, with momentum swinging in favor of ETH bulls.

It's a welcomed shift in momentum for Ethereum investors. October was a rough month for Ethereum-based decentralized finance (or "DeFi"). Previously, DeFi had enjoyed a red-hot summer in which users sank billions of dollars into experimental, non-custodial financial products.

The boom led to a surge of activity on the Ethereum network, which at times tested the technical limits of the blockchain. At the time, observers were hopeful that the ETH 2.0 upgrade, which will transition Ethereum from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake network and promises to dramatically increase throughput, would soon come to the rescue.

That all came to a halt in September, as DeFi stagnated and usage of the Ethereum network dropped. October was even worse. But should DeFi be poised for a comeback come winter, it appears Ethereum 2.0 will be ready to handle the load.

And that could spell good news for the price of Ethereum.