What You Need to Know:

• Ethereum has surged past the $4,000 mark for the first time since March.
• The price on Coinbase exceeds that on Binance, indicating U.S. institutional interest in the cryptocurrency.
• Active addresses on the Ethereum network have significantly increased recently.

The price of Ethereum's ether (ETH) surpassed $4,000 on Friday, marking the first such increase since March. In just 24 hours, the second-largest cryptocurrency saw an increase of 2.4%, while it rose by 8.4% over the past week, outperforming Bitcoin (BTC). This rise coincides with record inflows into spot ether ETFs recorded on Thursday.

As of writing, ether trades at $4,033, just 2% shy of hitting a new record for 2024 and only 20% below its all-time high of $4,868. Additionally, the ETH/BTC ratio has rebounded to 0.04, a pivotal point that previously indicated an ether price peak relative to Bitcoin.

The Coinbase premium for ether is also growing, suggesting a higher price on Coinbase compared to Binance. This phenomenon is typically interpreted as strong demand from U.S. institutional investors and retail buyers. According to TradingView, the increase in ether's price on Coinbase relative to Binance reflects activity from the U.S. markets, aligning with their opening hours.

Further analysis from Glassnode indicates that active Ethereum addresses have risen from 368,000 to 523,000 in just over two months, indicating increased on-chain activity benefitting ether by reducing its supply through the burn mechanism. The CoinDesk 20, an index tracking the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization (excluding meme coins, stablecoins, and exchange tokens), has decreased by 1.4%, with notable declines in stellar (XLM) and litecoin (LTC), which dropped 3.1% and 5% respectively in the last day. Meanwhile, Uniswap (UNI) and render token (RDNR) recorded increases of 11.7% and 6.4% respectively.