Ethereum is not lagging behind the top digital asset in performance as it has touched $500, the highest value since June 2018.

After more than two years, the second-largest coin by market cap has hit $500 which is very good news for the investors who have invested in the altcoin. On November 20, the largest altcoins topped the highest level in more than two years as it is trading at $500 over many cryptocurrency exchanges.

Ethereum is Up 284% in Year to Date

Based on the data given by CoinMarketCap, bulls have become successful in pushing the price value to $500 which shows the importance of altcoins in the cryptocurrency markets besides the top digital asset Bitcoin. Based on the performance data of both first cryptocurrencies, Ethereum has outshined Bitcoin this year in gaining value. Ethereum is up 284% in the year to date while Bitcoin becomes successful in gaining 155% of value in the year-to-date timeframe.

If we compare both coins’ performance since the month of March, we come to know that Bitcoin performed better after the crypto market crash in mid-March. Bitcoin jumped from $3,600 to $18,420 after increasing by 411% while Ethereum surged from $117 to the current $500 after a growth of 327%.

Besides exponential price gain, the mining hashrate has also reached new highs. According to the data calculated by The Block, the mining hashrate of the Ethereum network has witnessed a new all-time high position in terms of the seven-day moving average.

It is very fortunate that despite hints of upgrade delays, the price improvement has reached a new level. Recently, Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, revealed in a Reddit session that the new update, Eth 2.0, will take more than a year for implementation. There are different phases of the update such as “the beacon chain, shard chains, and the docking” which may take the time up to 2020. After the full implementation of the upgrades, the consensus will migrate from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

At press time, Ethereum is trading at $504 after an increase of 7.81% over the day while it is up 8.35% over the weekly timeframe.