The cryptocurrency market experienced intense volatility today, but Ethereum rebounded strongly, hitting a new high for the year. Layer 2 tokens also showed strong upward momentum, with OP and STRK both rising instead of falling. With the upcoming Ethereum upgrade to Constantinople, Layer 2 may become the next market hotspot.
Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $69,080 last night but quickly plummeted to $59,000. This caused most cryptocurrencies to decline, with the total liquidation amount exceeding $1.18 billion and over 315,000 people being liquidated in a single day.
However, the overall market started to rebound this morning, and Ethereum showed even stronger performance with a V-shaped reversal, reaching $3,868 and setting a new high for the year.
Some Ethereum Layer 2-related tokens also performed well today. STRK, which had been steadily declining since its listing on February 20, suddenly surged yesterday, rising from $1.78 to $2.468 and setting a new high since its listing, with a maximum increase of 39%. Although it briefly declined today due to the plummeting Bitcoin, it quickly rose again.
OP also showed strong performance. Despite being affected by the Bitcoin crash and temporarily falling to $3.68, it surged more than 30% in a single day and reached a new all-time high of $4.865.
Will the Constantinople upgrade boost the rise of Layer 2?
The Ethereum Constantinople upgrade (Dencun) will officially activate on the mainnet on March 13, 2024, at 21:55 Taiwan time. The market believes that this could be a driving force behind the rise of Ethereum and Layer 2 tokens.
The core of the Constantinople upgrade is EIP-4844, also known as “proto-danksharding.” It is the first step towards Ethereum’s scalability and introduces a new transaction type (blob-carrying transactions). EIP-4844 expands the blockchain by providing more space for data blobs and enables temporary storage and retrieval of off-chain data through Ethereum nodes, thereby reducing transaction fees on Layer 2 networks.
As the Constantinople upgrade approaches, data from L2BEAT shows that the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum Layer 2 has reached $36.74 billion, continuing to hit new highs with a 7-day increase of 14.8%.
Among them, the top five Layer 2 platforms in terms of TVL are:
1. Arbitrum One: $15.3 billion, with a 7-day increase of 12.73%
2. OP Mainnet: $9 billion, with a 7-day increase of 20.09%
3. Blast: $2.68 billion, with a 7-day increase of 29.51%
4. Manta Pacific: $2.08 billion, with a 7-day increase of 9.6%
5. Starknet: $1.63 billion, with a 7-day increase of 22.16%.
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