Ethereum Upgrade Propels Ether Above $2K, Delays Withdrawals.

Ethereum's Ether (ETH) rose above $2,000 a day after the successful completion of the Shapella upgrade, which continued the transformation of the Ethereum network from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Market observers had diverged over ETH’s price reaction, with some predicting selling pressure would send the price down but others seeing little impact or even an increase in price. Institutional investors are currently waiting to see how the exit queue behaves in the next few weeks and whether liquidity will be sufficient for them to start staking. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) rose 1.8% for the day to change hands at around $30,375 Thursday afternoon.