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The Ethereum blockchain is slowly moving towards migrating to a proof of stake protocol following the Altair upgrade.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, hit a new all-time high earlier today. The rally was caused by the Altair upgrade as the network slowly moves towards migrating to a proof of stake protocol.
Ether, the native coin of the Ethereum network, hit a new all-time high of $4,416 earlier today. This is the first time Ethereum has reached a new all-time high since trading above the $4,300 region earlier this week.
Earlier this week, Ether topped the $4,300 level, surpassing the all-time high of $4,200 set in May 2021. However, ETH dropped towards the $4k mark as the broader cryptocurrency market encountered a correction following weeks or rallying.
The correction didn’t last long as ETH, BTC and others resumed their upward movement yesterday. Ethereum’s latest rally to a new all-time high was fueled by the successful launch of the Altair upgrade on the blockchain.
The Altair upgrade is crucial to Ethereum’s desire to become a proof of stake protocol. Altair is the first upgrade to the Ethereum Beacon Chain since it went live in December last year. The Beacon Chain is crucial because it introduces the proof of stake protocol to the Ethereum blockchain.
Thanks to the Altair upgrade, the Ethereum network now has both the proof of stake and proof of work chains running in parallel to each other. Although both chains have validators, the proof of work chain processes the transactions since it remains the dominant one at this point.
However, once the Ethereum network fully merges with the Beacon Chain by next year, the blockchain will completely shift to a proof of stake model. The Ethereum developers hope to solve some of the pressing issues such as scalability and high gas fees by migrating to the proof of stake protocol.
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