Ethereum (ETH) is experiencing significant growth, reaching record highs of $4,330, driven by network changes and increasing institutional investor participation.
Surge in Transaction Volume and DeFi Costs Decline
The recent 50% increase in the gas limit in March has allowed Ethereum to handle much larger transaction volumes, alleviating congestion in the network. Research from Fidelity Digital Assets confirms that the increase in transaction volume has driven stablecoin transfer costs below $1, stimulating demand for micropayments and interactions with DeFi protocols.
Institutional Investment in Ethereum
Institutional investors, including [GBR Miner](https://gbrminer.net/), are actively acquiring ETH, targeting 5% of Ethereum's total supply (approximately 6 million). Industry sources indicate that their daily acquisition rates are 12 times that of MicroStrategy. Bitmine's director, Tom Lee, stated, "Ethereum is the most significant macro investment opportunity of the next decade."
Future of Ethereum and Price Forecast
The roadmap continues to advance the PeerDAS proposal, which aims to optimize Layer 2 data availability and build a sustainable environment for high-throughput scenarios. Analyst Tom Lee predicts that if the ecosystem's value capture mechanism is fully developed, ETH could challenge $7,000 by the end of the year, and in an extremely bullish scenario, reach $12,000-$15,000.
With increasing transaction volumes and active participation from institutional players, Ethereum is showing significant growth. However, the need for further value capture remains an important question for the future of the network.
