Ethereum Launches Mekong Testnet to Preview Pectra Upgrade Features
The Ethereum Foundation launched Mekong, a short-term testnet for developers to test UX and staking updates ahead of the Pectra fork.
The price of Ethereum has spiked to see a new all-time high value amidst its scheduled development and major pending update. The update, “Berlin”, is scheduled for tomorrow, and it’s possible that the update could have trajected the price of the altcoin to new heights.
Both the price of Ethereum and the market cap spiked to new record levels. Ethereum’s price took to $2,228 USD and the market cap surged to tag to over $250 billion USD for the first time in its history. While Bitcoin has been increasing in value, the cryptocurrency market has enjoyed the overall benefit. Despite the major issues of Ethereum’s ongoing sky-high transaction fees, the price of the leading altcoin has seen monumental growth.
Ethereum transaction fee problems soon a thing of the past?
It seems investors and traders are hopeful that Ethereum’s fees will take a knockdown to reasonable levels as the upgrade takes place. If the network upgrade runs smoothly, the blockchain will see a total difference in the way the fees are paid. This main upgrade, dubbed “London” is only scheduled for later in the year. It is predicted that the Berlin upgrade, however, will only offer moderate changes and won’t have a massive impact on the network in the long term. It is to set the stage for the London upgrade. Once the upgrade takes place, the network could be looking at brand new opportunities. Not only with the transaction fees drop considerably, but other issues such as scalability on the network will see hopeful remedies.
Strong alt rally
Investors are looking bullish about where the network might go. With Bitcoin breaking above $63,000 USD, the overall market is looking positive. With the leading tokens looking at a surge, other alts are also showing promising signs with Ripple XRP and Binance coin hitting record highs over the past day’s trading.