The Ethereum Shapella upgrade has been scheduled to happen in April which would be a significant upgrade for the network. As a result, the price of Ethereum, as well as other tokens on the blockchain, has been seeing a good upside. However, there are some cryptocurrencies that are uniquely positioned to benefit from this upgrade.
Liquid Staking Cryptocurrencies Make A Run For It
As Ethereum has rallied, liquid staking protocols have followed closely behind. These LSD tokens came into prominence with Ethereum’s move to a proof of stake mechanism. Since ETH staked on the network could not be withdrawn, LSD protocols gave stakers their version of wrapped Ether which they could spend while their ETH remained locked.
With the planned upgrade on April 12 which would allow stakers to withdraw their ETH, LSD tokens rallied ahead of the news due to their exposure. Lido Finance (LDO) is the leading ETH staking protocol and has been at the forefront of the rally.
In the last day, the price of LDO has risen over 10%, making it one of the top gainers. Other LSD tokens have followed suit with Rocket Pool (RPL) rising over 10% in the same time period. Frax Share (FXS), pSTAKE (PSTAKE), and StakeWise (SWISE) are all seeing double-digit gains in the same 24-hour period.
Ankr Protocol (ANKR) is, however, lagging behind the rest with only 3.61% gains. Nevertheless, all of the liquid staking tokens are seeing an upside and will likely continue their run-up right up until the Ethereum upgrade is completed.
Ethereum Upgrade Could Trigger More Upside
The anticipation around the Shapella upgrade is already reflected in the price of ETH which broke above $1,900 for the first time since August 2022. The cryptocurrency’s rise above this point has been an important catalyst for the recent market rally but the question is whether this rally will continue.
Interestingly, the Ethereum liquid staking sector has grown to a $4.34 billion market cap. The volume being driven by these protocols serves as even more fuel for the blockchain they’re sitting on, and the more ETH they burn in fees, the higher the chances of more upside for the price.
On its own, Ethereum is faring quite well. Besides its price crossing $1,900, its trading volume has also grown significantly, moving up almost 20% to bring its 24-hour volume above $11.3 billion. There has also been a 10% rise in the daily active Ethereum addresses, proving further that investors are looking favorably toward the upgrade.
