Bitcoin’s performance has been unparalleled and as the market marvels at the performance of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, the second-largest crypto, Ethereum [ETH] has surpassed $800 and reached $851. This value of ETH was last seen in May 2018 and as the rally in the BTC market gains momentum, the alt season may kick-off with an ETH rally.
Source: ETHUSD on TradingView
At the time of writing, the value of ETH slid to $831, but momentum was still high. In 2020, the decentralized finance [DeFi] hype was driving the price of ETH, however, in 2021, the tables have turned. Along with a strong correlation with BTC, the announcement by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange[CME] about launching ether futures has garnered attention by institutions.
As the interest drives price, the hashrate of the second-largest asset has also hit an all-time high. According to Ethereum data provider, Etherscan, the hash rate has hit 306.35 TH/s.
Source: Etherscan
As the hash rate records an ATH, gas price has also been high with an average of 74 Gwei. However, the high hash rate is an indicator of a healthy and secure blockchain.
Meanwhile, in terms of mining, Ethereum may be more beneficial for miners. F2Pool calculates the mining profitability by determining current revenue [block reward and transaction fees] while subtracting the cost of power, and had some interesting insights into the state of mining for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
As per F2Pool BTC Antminer S19 Pro miners can earn $22.82 in profits over 24 hours, while ETH miners using GTX TitanV 8 cards can expect $33.10 over the same period. This made mining Ethereum 45% more profitable than mining Bitcoin at the current price. Additionally, mining rigs monitored by F2Pool show Ethereum miners incurring a daily profit of more than $30, while Bitcoin mining rig profits have not surpassed $30 yet. Three mining rigs were currently earning a profit of above $20.