Ethereum just crossed $700. It’s the highest price the asset has traded for since May 2018. 

Ethereum Back Above $700

The digital currency has performed well over the last few weeks, following the launch of Ethereum 2.0 on Dec. 1. Its value has soared by around 12% today.

The main factor for this might be the Christmas fervor surrounding Bitcoin: in the last three days, the original crypto has seen a 16% jump in price. It hit an all-time high of $25,000 on Christmas Day and has been moving upwards since then. It’s now trading at $26,796. 

ETH often follows BTC’s price movements. When BTC looks bullish, ETH and other digital currencies tend to draw liquidity soon after. Unlike BTC, though, ETH is still 50% short of its all-time high price.

The ETH:BTC ratio is currently 0.025 (back in January 2018, it topped out at around 0.1). 

Nonetheless, signs remain positive for Ethereum believers. Following exponential growth for DeFi in 2020, the total value locked in Ethereum-native protocols like Aave, Synthetix, and Uniswap is currently at $13.3 billion, and there are now over 1 million users.

If DeFi continues to grow on Ethereum at the same pace in 2021, its native currency may well follow suit. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH and UNI, among a number of other cryptocurrencies.