The much-anticipated Pectra upgrade was released on Ethereum (ETH) Mainnet on May 7th. The upgrade introduced several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that enhance different aspects of the network, focusing on scaling, staking efficiency, user experience and interoperability.
However, market watchers believe Pectra could impact ETH prices and exceed $2,000, a level not seen since March 28th.
Will ETH be worth $2000?
MEXC Chief Operating Officer Tracy Jin told Beincrypto that the upgrade could be a bullish catalyst for ETH. Jin emphasized that the upgrade will strengthen Ethereum's infrastructure and lay the foundation for a fresh wave of Web3 innovation.
She believes this could attract new interest from institutional investors and stimulate the continued expansion of the Ethereum ecosystem. Furthermore, Jin predicts that many Web3 developers will be able to choose to return to the network. Therefore, this will encourage Ethereum to regain its leading role in the Altcoin market.
“Technically, a successful upgrade could trigger bullish emotion and breakout moments as ETH moves towards the $2,200 zone, potentially kickstarting another cycle of the Altcoin season,” Jin told Beincrypto.
ETH's recent performance supports this optimism. Analyst Ted Pillows said on X (formerly Twitter) that ETH had escaped from a four-month resistance level a few days ago.
He added that Altcoin continues to hold above this level, according to the latest data.
“As I said before, it's time for ETH to meet now, and it's going to happen soon,” predicted Mall.
Ethereum price forecast. Source: x/tedpillows
Pillow predictions seem to have already come true. After the upgrade, ETH has risen significantly, regaining its $1,900 level today, marking its highest price since early April.
Beincrypto data showed that the price was highly valued at 4.9% over the last 24 hours. At the time of pressing, Altcoin was traded for $1,929.
ETH price performance. Source: TradingView
Meanwhile, from a chain perspective, encrypted data showed that the total amount of ETH staining has risen from 33.7 million to 34.4 million since the upgrade news began to exert traction. This represents a net inflow of 627,000 ETH, indicating increased confidence amongst stakers.
“This could mark the beginning of institutional positioning. At the very least, a recovery in confidence after the upgrade. The scale of the inflow is not yet explosive, but the direction has changed,” Crypto Mebsimi said.
The influx is not that big, but this trend suggests that investors are interested and confident in joining the Ethereum ecosystem again.
However, not all predictions are uniformly positive. Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and COO of Redstone, provided a more cautious outlook.
“The long-term impact on Ethereum prices remains difficult to accurately quantify. There is a positive correlation between increased blobspace consumption and ETH combustion (reducing supply), but these mechanisms do not work under Ceteris Paribus conditions,” Kazmierczak told Beincrypto.
He explained that increased activity in Layer 2 solution could shift transactions from Layer 1. This is important because L1 transactions traditionally consume more fees (i.e., lower ETH supply) compared to L2 transactions. As more transactions move to L2, this can reduce the amount of ETH burned and affect supply dynamics.
At the same time, the Ethereum roadmap is also underway, introducing new L1 solutions designed to scale independently. These initiatives aim to improve Ethereum scalability without relying on L2 enhancements.
However, Kazmierczak emphasized that a framework for integrating these parallel scaling approaches is still under development.
“Ultimately, Ethereum navigates highly complex areas to simultaneously advance L2 scalability, improve L1 performance and maintain the financial health of ETH. This multifaceted challenge represents both the scary technical dilemma and the exciting frontier of blockchain architecture,” he commented.
As Ethereum moved its path, the Pectra upgrade set the stage for a potential price increase. It remains to be seen whether ETH will be able to maintain momentum and reach $2,000.
