May 21, 2025 — Ethereum (ETH) is witnessing a tremendous surge in price. It has gained more than 35% in the last two weeks and its price reached $2,634, although it declined slightly later. There are many important reasons behind this boom – such as a successful technical upgrade called Pectra, increasing interest from large institutions, and new proposals from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Pectra Upgrade:
This is considered to be the biggest upgrade of Ethereum, after the 2022 Merge. It has made the Ethereum network faster, reduced transaction fees, and improved user experience with features like smart wallet and easy staking. According to FXEmpire, Ethereum’s price has increased by 61.6% over the past month, outpacing other major cryptocurrencies. According to Etherscan, more than 1.2 million transactions were recorded in a single day. Read more about Pectra Upgrade
Pectra brings greater flexibility to Ethereum’s proof-of-stake system – raising the validator limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH and introducing key improvements for both solo stakers and institutions.
Vitalik Buterin’s new proposal:
Vitalik has suggested “partially stateless nodes”, which would make running Ethereum nodes easier and lighter. This would increase the scalability of the network and reduce censorship. Ethereum’s security will also remain strong — Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation says a 51% attack on the network would cost more than $44 billion.
Vitalik proposes “partially stateless nodes” to boost $ETH decentralization and scalability—lighter, faster, more inclusive!
Market mood positive:
Crypto analyst Mikael van de Poppe believes Ethereum could soon reach $3,800, and even $4,000 is possible if it overcomes the resistance of $2,548. Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision, has described Ethereum as the backbone of the future financial system, especially due to its Layer-2 solutions, which are being preferred by banks and institutions.
However, some analysts believe that Ethereum’s price may first fall to $2,233, only to be followed by a big surge — like it did in 2020 when it hit an all-time high of $4,868.
On-chain data:
On May 16, 230,000 ETH were withdrawn from exchanges — showing that investors are accumulating for the long term. U.Today reports that a whale withdrew $35 million worth of ETH from Coinbase — indicating huge institutional interest. There are also rumors on social media X (formerly Twitter) that Ethereum ETF staking could be approved by the end of this month, which could push the price higher.
Ethereum vs Solana:
Although faster networks like Solana are competing with Ethereum, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes believes Ethereum will outperform Solana over the next 18-24 months. Ethereum’s strength is its strong ecosystem and institutional support.
Some experts believe Ethereum has not become as much of a “store-of-value” as Bitcoin or as scalable as Solana — but Ethereum’s developers say its real strength lies in being a robust infrastructure platform.
Conclusion:
Ethereum is on its way to surpass $3,000. Technical upgrades, interest from large institutions, and positive market signals are putting it at the forefront of this crypto bull run. Now it remains to be seen whether ETH can break the $4,000 level and turn it into support — which would further increase its chances of a new all-time high.
