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Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ethereum Is Now Better Than Ever, but Does That Make It a Buy?
Ethereum's biggest update since Dencun is now live and called Pectra. Pectra makes Ethereum the chain with the largest feature set in crypto. That doesn't mean the coin is going to the moon today, tomorrow, or ever. 10 stocks we like better than Ethereum › Ethereum's (CRYPTO: ETH) latest technology upgrade called Pectra went live on May 7, potentially making the chain the fastest and cheapest that it has ever been. With the coin's price rising by almost 70% during the past 30 days (likely buoyed by a handful of macroeconomic factors), it seems that investors are receiving the upgrade with some enthusiasm as developers are reporting they appreciate the new features. Does that mean you should be considering a purchase? Below I'll examine what Pectra changed, why it's important, and how it fits into the long-term thesis for buying this coin. Here's a quick non-exhaustive rundown of the most important new features for end users: Biometric authentication support Gas (user) fees can be sponsored by one of the parties in a transaction Spending limits can be assigned to wallets Transactions can be processed in batches Wallets can now behave as smart contracts There are also a handful of back-end improvements that aim to make the chain run faster and with lower fees, as well as a few security improvements. For the most part, application developers haven't had enough time to fully integrate the new user-facing features into existing apps. New apps that lean on those features more heavily to offer unique value to their users will take even longer to launch, assuming they do. Nonetheless, these upgrades grant Ethereum a handful of capabilities that other chains simply don't have and have the potential to make it more user-friendly, secure, and capable. All of the above contributes to the bull thesis for buying the coin and holding it for a long period. However, it's important to recognize that Pectra's impact on Ethereum's price will take some time to play out in full. This first launch is only phase one out of two; phase two is slated for later this year or in early 2026. Although the market is digesting how phase one is performing, it willl need to repeat the process relatively soon. It's possible that a lukewarm set of phase one features might be significantly streamlined, made more useful, or made to perform much better by what's coming in the next phase. This arc of the chain's story is at the beginning right now, not the ending. Therefore, there's still plenty of time for the coin's price to rise from here -- and there's another major catalyst coming that could be even stronger. And that's before considering the other tailwinds that are coming into play, like adoption among institutional investors who are seeking to use it to track and trade their real-world assets using its blockchain. If there's a combination of things that are capable of knocking Ethereum out of its multiyear doldrums, this is probably it. Time to throw just a little bit of cold water on the investment thesis for buying Ethereum right now. As of the afternoon of May 12, it cost roughly $9.13 to perform a token swap on Ethereum, a dramatic increase of just a week or so earlier when gas fees were less than $1 for the same transaction. Transactions take about 30 seconds to complete, on average -- no change from before Pectra went live. This data indicates that, as substantive as the changes to scaling that were added with Pectra may be, they're still wholly insufficient to tackle the chain's longest-running and most annoying problems. That makes Ethereum a risky purchase right now. Without strong evidence in hand that Pectra is making the chain cheaper to use, as it was marketed to do, it's hard to declare that the future of the chain is bright. Rivals like Solana continue to be faster and less expensive. At the same time, it's undeniable that Ethereum's feature set is larger than ever. It's also the chain with the most capital for investment into new projects in its ecosystem. Both of those things increase the crypto's chances of growing over the next five years. The balance of risk and reward of an investment is rapidly shifting in the coin's favor by virtue of the increasing sophistication of its technology, even if costs remain higher than desired. If you're very risk tolerant, it's worth punting with a small investment in Ethereum today. For those who are less comfortable with the prospect of sustaining losses, hold off for now. There will be more information about how Pectra is working during the coming months, which might shore up the coin's odds of success as an investment. Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $598,613!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $753,878!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 922% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 169% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 12, 2025 Alex Carchidi has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Ethereum Is Now Better Than Ever, but Does That Make It a Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Business Mayor
04-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Ethereum's Pectra upgrade: Buterin says THIS is its biggest threat!
Vitalik warned that Ethereum's growing complexity may threaten decentralization; Pectra upgrade triggers key debate. ETH whales showed mixed strategies as price stagnates, reflecting uncertainty ahead of Pectra rollout. As the Pectra upgrade looms – arguably Ethereum's [ETH] boldest leap since the Merge – Vitalik Buterin is asking hard questions about where all this complexity leads. Meanwhile, the market seems unsure whether to cheer or flinch. Whales are divided, price action is sluggish, and the network feels like it's pausing mid-stride. Is this the weight of overengineering starting to show? Pectra on deck, but is Ethereum building a castle on sand? As Ethereum gears up for the highly anticipated Pectra upgrade – set to expand blob capacity, streamline validator ops, and bring in long-requested UX enhancements – Vitalik Buterin is sounding a different kind of alarm. In a new blog post, Ethereum's co-founder warns that the protocol may be drifting toward unsustainable complexity, urging a return to simplicity before it becomes a liability. 'Even a smart high school student is capable of fully wrapping their head around and understanding the Bitcoin protocol. A programmer is capable of writing a client as a hobby project.' The implication? Ethereum's current architecture is edging away from that level of accessibility… and it's a problem. While Pectra does offer tangible improvements, Buterin questions whether piling on features at the base layer is the right long-term strategy. He points out that Ethereum is increasingly reliant on a small group of highly technical contributors, which risks 'centralizing control and raising the barrier to entry for new developers.' 'Simplicity should be seen as a core value, just like decentralization.' Pectra may polish the protocol, but unless the community embraces a minimalist mindset, Ethereum could be building a future that's brilliant – but brittle. Read More Ethereum's Dencun upgrade gets a new touch — Here's how Whale watch: Mixed signals in murky waters If Ethereum's codebase is complex, its whales are even harder to read. While Buterin talks about clarity, large holders are doing anything but showing conviction. On-chain data paints a picture of hesitation, one that is more akin to a poker game than a market strategy. Source: X Take the whale who just scooped up 3,029 ETH at $1,895. That's a $5.74M bet… now sitting $142K in the red. Yet since March, the same wallet has walked away with $300K in profit by buying dips and flipping tops. Not bad, but hardly a vote of long-term confidence. Meanwhile, in just the past few hours, two whales borrowed a combined $5M in USDC from Aave to buy ETH – while another wallet quietly pulled 2,250 ETH off Binance. A bullish sign? Maybe. But then there's the short whale who's doubled down with a 10,000 ETH ($17.9M) short, now $510K underwater. Source: X And let's not forget the long-term staker who finally unstaked 5,180 ETH after two years – only to lock in a $255K net loss. Source: CoinMarketCap Price? Barely moved – up just 1.83% this week. The big fish are swimming, but no one's steering. What history tells us Ethereum's major upgrades tend to follow a familiar pattern—anticipation, volatility, and eventual price movement. When the Merge launched in September 2022, ETH initially dropped over 20% within days. However, it rebounded months later, supported by macro tailwinds. The Shanghai upgrade in April 2023 unlocked staked ETH. Markets expected a surge in selling pressure, but ETH instead jumped over 10% in the following week. Investors appeared relieved by the smooth implementation. Read More Nakamoto upgrade delay raises concerns as STX struggles below $2 This trend highlights short-term volatility followed by gradual, meaningful repricing once speculation settles. Pectra, though less headline-grabbing than the Merge, introduces scalability improvements, better validator experience, and expanded rollup capabilities. Whether it sparks a rally or simply strengthens Ethereum's foundation, history suggests markets rarely react instantly to technical advancements. Instead, the impact unfolds over time. Breakout or breakdown? At press time, ETH was hovering around $1,846 with muted volatility, as RSI held steady at 58, neither overbought nor oversold. The MACD hinted at bullish momentum, but just barely. Whales seem split because ETH itself is. With fundamentals improving but concerns over complexity rising, price is treading water. Source: TradingView This sideways churn may signal compression before a breakout, or the start of a longer consolidation phase.
