Ethereum 2.0 Deposit Contracts Gather Steam As ETH Price Approaches $600

The Ethereum 2.0 launch remains the hot topic of discussion within the Ethereum community. Earlier this month, Ethereum developer Afri Schoedon launched deposit contracts for Ethereum 2.0. As per the latest developments, the deposit contracts have crossed the half-way mark of the minimum milestone of 524,288 ETH for the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain to go live.

Moreover, as per the latest development, nearly 292,320 ETH has been already staked in the ETH 2.0 Deposit Contracts. Interestingly, the contracts have registered massive deposits over the last week after a pretty lukewarm start. Just four days back on November 19, the total staked ETH was less than 20% of the minimum threshold.

However, the ETH deposits have surged faster than expected crossing 55.8% at press time. In just the last 24 hours, the progress meter has jumped 10% with over 25% ETH being staked.

This is a significant surge considering we need to move past the minimum staking threshold to trigger the Ethereum 2.0 genesis. We are already running late for the launch of ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain from its previous schedule of December 1. However, it now looks like the deposit contracts are now gathering steam and the Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 launch can happen by mid-December if we continue at this rate.

The Ethereum 2.0 promises massive scalability and performance suitable for the decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. However, multiple delays in the PoS Ethereum blockchain has dampened the excitement within the community. Last week during an AMA session on Reddit, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin clarified that the complete launch of Ethereum 2.0 will still take 24 months more.

ETH Rally Continues As Price Approaches $600

The price of Ether (ETH) has been surging pretty fast as it approaches closer to $600 hitting its new 2020-high. At press time, ETH is trading at $580 with a market cap of $65.9 billion. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency has attained these levels for the first time in almost three years. On the other hand, ETH continues to extend its market dominance now at 12.54%.

Over the last week itself, ETH has added an additional $100 to its price. While Bitcoin gets all the attention, ETH has far-better year-to-date returns at 340% than BTC’s 160%. Needless to say, it has been the top-performing altcoins this year.

Also, with the DeFi market explosion in summer 2020, ETH has clocked far more transactions than BTC maintaining higher liquidity. If the altcoin market rally kicks in, we can likely see ETH reaching its ATH of $1400 and further beyond. While we understand that there’s been a significant delay in the launch of Ethereum 2.0, here’s an interesting thread explaining why its worth the wait.