Ether (ETH) has surpassed $1,900 for the first time in over seven months, ahead of the Ethereum Shanghai hard fork set to take place on April 12. The hard fork will implement EIP-4895, allowing validators and stakers to withdraw staked ETH from the beacon chain. The recent price increase could be driven by expectations of the Fed easing up on its quantitative tightening efforts or by increased demand for Ether due to staking becoming more flexible. While Bitcoin has also recorded gains in recent days, ETH/BTC has increased by nearly 3% in the last week, suggesting both factors may be contributing to Ether's price jump. The execution of The Merge in Sept. 2022 caused ETH's price to drop sharply, but the impact of the Shanghai and Capella updates is currently speculation.

(By LUKE HUIGSLOOT)