For the first time in two months, Ethereum (ETH) was the star performer, gaining as much as 5% in the last 24 hours and breaking beyond $3,000 for the very first time. In the meantime, bitcoin (BTC) surpassed $42,000 and was also up 3% during the same time frame. On Friday, stocks rose as well, while gold, a typical safe-haven investment, fell. Stocks have recovered, and some other cryptocurrencies (altcoins) have outperformed, indicating that investors have a stronger stomach for risk.

Why Ether Rises
The development on merging the Ethereum blockchain’s mainnet with the Beacon Network is one of the reasons behind Ether’s increase. Ethereum merged on the Kiln testnet earlier last week, paving the way for the blockchain’s ultimate transition to a proof-of-stake system, with network validators now generating post-merge chunks carrying business.
From a technical standpoint, ether’s surge has surpassed bitcoin’s, suggesting that the above might see greater gains in ether in the near future. The ETH/BTC price ratio found support around 0.064 and is currently facing opposition at 0.073, which is about 4% away.
Analysis of altcoins
Lending protocol based on polka dots Concurrent Financial Services aspires to be a one-stop shop for anything related to decentralized finance (DeFi). This endeavor was expedited on Friday, initial launch of six products ranging from wallets to staking throughout the DeFi spectrum.