Ethereum Classic is the most significant gainer today with a sharp increase of 26%. ETH was also at a good level before the Bellatrix upgrade.
Bitcoin continues to trade in a narrow range below the $20,000 mark. Meanwhile, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic have skyrocketed by double digits.
ETH and ETC skyrocket
On the eve of The Merge, the Ethereum community is getting more and more excited about the transition from PoW to PoS. A key stage in The Merge event is the Bellatrix update, which is expected to take place later today.
The attraction of the event pushed the second-largest cryptocurrency 6.5% higher. As a result, ETH is now trading at a multi-day high, $1,650.
Ethereum Classic has performed even more impressive as it has skyrocketed by more than 26% in the last 24 hours and has surpassed the $40 level. Cardano, Solana, and Avalanche also made good moves, rising between 4 and 7%. Although more modest, BNB, XRP, DOT, DOGE, SHIB, and MATIC also experienced relatively stable gains.
This increase in altcoins helped the cumulative Market Capitalization of all crypto assets recover $30 billion in one day, and the index is now close to reaching $1 trillion again.
Bitcoin remains below $20K
Even if the majority of altcoins see significant gains, Bitcoin seems to be stuck at familiar levels.
BTC lost the $20,000 mark last week, and since then, the coin’s price has remained below this level, apart from a few short pumps to and from there.
Such the latest example came hours before BTC surged to an intraday high of $20,300 but was stopped.
As of now, BTC is still trading far from $20,000 and its Market Cap has grown to $380 billion. However, its dominance over altcoins took a hit and fell below 39%.
