Bitcoin broke through $14,000 this week as traders watched the US election results, marking another step toward its all-time high. The price action has dominated headlines over the past two weeks. Mi
Bitcoin broke through $14,000 this week as traders watched the US election results, marking another step toward its all-time high. The price action has dominated headlines over the past two weeks.
Mining activity tells a different story. Hash rate has declined in recent weeks, a sign miners are pulling less computing power from the network. Network stress shows in the transaction backlog. Even as Bitcoin's price climbs, confirmation times have stretched and the mempool has filled with unconfirmed transactions.
Interest in DeFi has cooled since summer. Trading volumes have eased on other chains as enthusiasm around decentralized finance has waned. The calendar is turning toward year-end, and the energy of those months has dissipated. Fees have fallen alongside the reduced activity.
Bitcoin's corporate adoption narrative continues to develop. Companies remain in talks about adding Bitcoin to their treasuries or portfolios, keeping the acquisition story alive in boardrooms.
The Ethereum Foundation announced this week that Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 will launch on December 1st. A deposit contract is now live and accepting funds from validators preparing to stake once the new chain goes online.
In a statement, the foundation explained the mechanics: "Today, we released v1.0 of the eth2 specs, including the mainnet deposit contract…To trigger genesis at this time, there must be at least 16384 32-ETH validator deposits 7 days prior to December 1. If not, genesis will be triggered 7 days after this threshold has been met (whenever that may be)."
Phase 0 will run as a separate blockchain initially. Phase 1 and Phase 2 will come later, though the foundation has not announced launch dates for either. The current Ethereum network continues operating unchanged during Phase 0, so existing applications function without disruption.
Ethereum's price jumped 7% on the announcement. The token climbed from $380 to $409 and could reach $480.
