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While the recent Bitcoin and crypto momentum is cooling off, Ethereum (ETH) rejects lower lows, especially against Bitcoin (BTC). Taking to X on December 8, decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher DefiIgnas shared insights that suggest ETH could be on the verge of a rally that would potentially see the second most valuable coin usurp BTCs current position as the best-performing asset.

The researcher observed that ETH is down 24% versus BTC in 2023. However, multiple fundamental indicators show that this is about to change. First, DefiIgnas noted that crypto investors are increasingly drawn to discounted Grayscale Ethereum Trust (GETH), which has been rallying over the past few months, outperforming Ethereum spot prices.

GETH surged by 298% in the past few months, while ETH only rose by around 100% in the same period. As GETH share prices increased, its discount with spot ETH decreased. This means more capital indirectly flowed into ETH, leading to higher demand.

Besides GETH rising, the researcher remains bullish on Ethereum because of the recent developments surrounding the approval of the first spot Bitcoin ETF. The crypto community expects the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to authorize multiple products, including those proposed by Fidelity and BlackRock.

In DefiIgnas assessment, once the spot Bitcoin ETF goes live, likely in early 2024, all attention, narrative, and speculation will shift toward the agency approving the first spot Ethereum ETF. BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager, has already applied with the SEC to issue the first spot Ethereum ETF.

The expected activation of the Cancun upgrade in H1 2024 will also likely support Ethereum prices. Over the years, Ethereum has integrated multiple upgrades. This includes shifting to proof-of-stake (PoS) from proof-of-work (PoW) and overhauling their fee auction mechanism, introducing ETH burning.

However, with Cancun, the goal is to directly enhance the main nets capabilities by activating several proposals, including EIP-4844 proto-dank sharding, which aims to reduce gas fees associated with rollups. This update will further cement Ethereums quest to significantly increase on-chain scalability and reduce gas fees over the years.

At spot rates, ETH is firm versus BTC, looking at the candlestick arrangement in the daily chart. How prices react in the days ahead remains to be seen.

Even so, if there is confirmation of the December 7 gains, ETH might extend gains. In that case, it can break above the current consolidation as bulls aim to break above November 2023 highs of around 0.058 BTC.

Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView

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