• Ethereum hashing is currently surging, which indicates more miners in the networks.
• Amid the growing mining hashrate, the crypto has peaked to a level not seen since 2018, at $500.

The computing power or mining hashrate of the second-largest blockchain in the crypto space, Ethereum, has soared to the highest level since this year. Besides the increased Ethereum hashing, the native cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) has surged past the $500 level, making the all-time high for the year. Notably, Ether had been increasing in price alongside Bitcoin (BTC) since the market rally last month. 

Increasing Ethereum hashrate drags price along 

The second-largest digital currency is currently trading at $497 on Coinmarketcap, a crypto price tracking platform. Ether reached another yearly high of $500.67 on the platform before it quickly dropped to the current price. On Coinbase, the cryptocurrency reportedly traded at $501. Out of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization of $511 billion, Ether posts a $56.3 billion market valuation from a circulating supply of 113 million Ethereum coins.

The $500 level represents about a 290 percent increase on a year-to-date count. Meanwhile, the development today is coming at the back of the soaring network’s computing power. According to the data on The Block, the Ethereum hashrate is currently at 256 terahashes (TH/s) in the seven-day moving average (7DMA). This accounts for an all-time high in the Ethereum hashrate, which is slightly higher than the 246 TH/s (7DMA) last seen in the past two years.

The growing hashrate simply indicates more deployment of mining machines in the Ethereum network.

Ethereum 2.0

Ethereum hashrate might no longer be a thing as the network’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) is being prepared for deployment. Nischal Shetty, the CEO of WazirX, an Indian digital currency exchange, opined that the staking activity for Ethereum 2.0 is propelling the price. His statement follows a belief that the Ethereum 2.0 staking will result in “a supply shortage of ether,” which should fuel the crypto’s price growth due to scarcity.