As of May 12, according to data from the analytics platform 8marketcap, Ether surpassed Coca-Cola ($303.5 billion) and Alibaba ($303.7 billion) with a market capitalization exceeding $308 billion, ranking as the 39th-largest asset in the world. During this period, ETH price climbed to approximately $2,550.

The price rally was largely driven by the recently activated Pectra upgrade, which brought notable improvements in layer-2 scaling data storage, validator experience, and smart wallet usability.

Pectra Upgrade Finally Live on Mainnet

Initially scheduled for release in March 2025, the Pectra upgrade was postponed due to technical challenges during the testing phase.

The update was first launched on the Holesky testnet on February 24, but failed to finalize blocks. It was then moved to the Sepolia testnet on March 5, where an attacker mining empty blocks further escalated the issues.

To ensure secure deployment, Ethereum developers launched a new test network called “Hoodi”, and finally, on May 7, the upgrade was successfully rolled out to the mainnet.

With this update, externally owned accounts (EOAs) can now behave like smart contracts, enabling users to pay transaction fees not only with ETH but also with other tokens. Additionally, the staking limit for validators increased from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, simplifying operations for larger participants. The number of data blobs per block was also increased, significantly improving layer-2 scalability.

On May 7, ETH was trading around $1,786, and just five days later, it reached $2,550, delivering a 42% return to investors.

Security Experts Warn of New Risks

However, the upgrade also introduced some security vulnerabilities. Experts have warned that new transaction types could allow malicious actors to control EOAs without an on-chain signature from the user.

Some auditors noted that these flaws might let attackers drain funds through off-chain signed messages.

Although Ethereum has made a significant leap in terms of price and market cap, the long-term impact and security concerns following the Pectra upgrade remain under close watch by the crypto community.

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