Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has reached its lowest point since April 9. On Friday afternoon, ETH dropped to as low as $1,833, erasing all price gains of its recent rally that followed the successful implementation of the Shanghai upgrade. The decline has been attributed to macroeconomic and industry uncertainties that have affected the wider digital asset market. ETH has declined by more than 13% from its Tuesday high of $2,118 and has fallen 5.3% over the past 24 hours.
The April 12 hard fork marked the final significant step in the transition of the Ethereum blockchain from a proof-of-work to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake protocol. This allowed for withdrawals of around $35 billion worth of tokens locked in staking contracts. ETH began spiking a day after the event and surged to its highest level in 11 months, having remained below $2,000 for most of the previous year.
However, ETH’s steady decline since Tuesday has coincided with a wider price slump, with Bitcoin also experiencing a fall of more than 3% over the past 24 hours and tumbling more than 10% from its high above $30,000 on Tuesday.
