April 12 as the probable update day for Ethereum Shanghai

The cryptocurrency markets made a significant breakthrough last week, with bitcoin itself posting its best performance since early 2021. However, with lingering uncertainty in broader capital markets, it is still too early to say that crypto is on the mend.

Bitcoin started the week around $22, but gained significantly after Tuesday's US CPI data, returning to above $000. dollars for the first time since last summer. Thanks to the liquidation of short positions in futures contracts (which increased buying pressure), the price climbed to over $25 on Friday, where it was still this morning.

Ethereum followed suit, hitting a six-month high above $1 on the platform on Tuesday eToroand over the weekend - over $1. At this point, it's still hovering around $800.

GFC Echoes Ignite Discussion of Bitcoin Revival 

While the exact scope and implications of the current U.S. banking crisis remain to be predicted, the inevitable post-2008 echo has left many anticipating a change in the fortunes of cryptocurrency investors and a resurgence – especially with bitcoin.

CoinDesk's Michael J. Casey was among those commentators who reminded us last week that bitcoin is a child of the global financial crisis - its blockchain emerged from the wreckage of Wall Street as an alternative to a centralized financial system whose checks and balances were deemed insufficient .

With all eyes on Fed and its interest rate decision next Wednesday, it is clear that bitcoin's performance in a high interest rate environment remains heavily tied to central bank policy.

Nevertheless, after months of depressing activity in the cryptocurrency market, the events of the past week have already convinced many new and current investors that the philosophy of bitcoin and the entire DeFi remains unchanged.

Ethereum developers are betting on April 12 as Shanghai update day

On Thursday, Ethereum developers set an official target date of April 12 for the highly anticipated Shanghai hard fork (branches blockchainu cryptocurrency that splits one cryptocurrency into two), technically referred to as Shapell.

The update will complete the long-awaited transition of Ethereum to the network with the model proof-of-stake (PoS), which was launched by The Merge in September 2022 when it switched to a PoS consensus mechanism using validators instead of miners.

Until now, these validators had to wager 32 ETH to join the blockchain, except they could not withdraw either these deposits or any rewards associated with them. This is all about to change on April 12.

After Shapella, staked ETH validators will be unlocked and it's up to them what they do with them; owners can keep them, sell them or transfer them to another liquid staking service.

While we cannot speculate on specific market pressures that may influence these decisions four weeks from now, this event itself raises the possibility of influential redemption requests. Ethereum investors should therefore be aware of potential volatility in the near future.

The changing distribution of ETH supply makes crypto sharks close to whales 

Sticking with ethereum, another noteworthy development last week was the release of data from an analytics firm Santiment, which showed that the distribution of assets among large ethereum investors has changed significantly over the last twelve months.

You can find out more about their arrangements here. To summarize: so-called "sharks" (holding 10 to 10 coins) have made a net increase in assets over the past year, while "whales" (holding 000 to 10 coins) have made net "sales" decrease.

Whales still own about 51 percent. of the total supply of ethereum, so the balance of influence on market prices has not yet reversed. However, the difference is so small that it is worth paying attention to.