Ethereum price approaches all-time high as DeFi market continues to expand

Thanks to ETH’s current market push, the asset’s fortnightly profits stand close to the 13% mark.

• Binance recently announced the launch of an approximately AUD$1.35 billion (US$1 billion) fund to help accelerate the growth of its Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem.
• Coinbase recently announced that it is all set to launch an NFT marketplace by the end of 2021.
• Ethereum’s ongoing rally seems to be driven largely by BTC.

The last week or so has been extremely exciting for Ethereum, with the altcoin rising from a price point of AUD$4,640 (US$3,438) on 14 October to around AUD$5,335 (US$3,950) just 72 hours later, showcasing a growth of over 12%. However, ETH’s value has corrected slightly since then, with a single token currently trading for AUD$5,220.

There’s no secret that this latest bull run seems to be largely driven by Bitcoin, with almost all of the currencies in the top 20 closely following BTC over the last month or so. Ethereum has continued to hold ground, with the asset’s market dominance index (DI) continuing to hover around the 17.5% range.

In a major push for the decentralised finance (DeFi) market as a whole, Binance, one of the world’s leading trading platforms, announced that it is set to launch a US$1 billion fund to help spur the development of its fast-growing BSC ecosystem. In this regard, the crypto company outlined a tiered development model that spans 4 key areas as part of its billion-dollar program – namely talent development, a liquidity incentive program, a builder program and an investment and incubation program.

How to buy Ethereum

Crypto lender Celsius raises $400M

As per a number of reports, crypto lending platform Celsius Network has been able to secure $400 million via an equity funding round that was led by market giants WestCap and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. The firm’s co-founder Alex Mashinsky noted that the funds will be used to hire more people as well as improve the company’s existing suite of offerings and products. “It’s not $400 million. It’s the credibility that comes with the people who wrote those checks,” Mashinsky noted.

It is worth noting that, much like Celsius, crypto risk management firm Elliptic was able to raise US$60 million in Series C funding recently, with the money being offered primarily by prominent players, including Evolution Equity Partners, Digital Currency Group, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and SBI Group among others.

Looking ahead

Following in the footsteps of FTX and Binance, Coinbase has announced its decision to launch an NFT marketplace by the end of this year. The platform will initially support only a few token standards associated with the Ethereum blockchain and will gradually expand as the ecosystem continues to grow.

It is estimated that Coinbase currently has around 70 million verified users as well as 8.8 million active users. As a result, the company’s new NFT platform could provide some stiff competition to other NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible. In fact, just hours after Coinbase made the announcement, over 1.1 million people signed up for the platform’s waitlist.

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Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing