Ethereum 2.0, the much-awaited upgrade of the Ethereum network, received immense support from the ETH community since the official launch of Beacon Chain in December 2020. Etherscan.com, the block explorer and analytics platform for Ethereum, recently highlighted that the total value of the staked ETH under the deposit contract of ETH 2.0 has crossed the mark of $20 billion.

Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract now has 6.59 million ETH, which is the highest level on record. During the first week of July 2021, ETH 2.0 deposit contract crossed 6 million coins for the first time. Due to the latest jump in the price of ETH, the overall value of the staked coins has increased significantly.

In terms of price, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency saw a sharp increase in the last two weeks. ETH reached a high of approximately $3,200 on 8 August for the first time since 19 May 2021. Currently, Ethereum is trading near $3,000 with a market cap of more than $340 billion. ETH’s crypto market dominance currently stands near 19.5%.

Ethereum Hard Fork

ETH network accelerated its journey towards the upgrade with its London hard fork which took place last week. Vitalik Buterin, the Co-Founder of Ethereum, termed the recent hard fork as an important step in the creation of an energy-efficient ecosystem.

“The hard fork is the single biggest upgrade to the Ethereum network since 2015 and has significant implications for the cost of fees on the blockchain – so-called ‘gas’ fees. But according to the founder Buterin, it has implications for the energy efficiency of ETH. Speaking to Bloomberg News in Singapore, Buterin said EIP-1559 could reduce emissions caused by the network by 99%,” Simon Peters, Market Analyst at eToro, commented.

“Crypto-assets such as Ethereum and bitcoin have come in for criticism in recent times for high energy usage. Tesla Chief Executive, Elon Musk triggered a major selloff in May with comments on the high emissions of the bitcoin mining process,” Peters added.