Ethereum (ETH) failed to recapture the coveted $2,000 price territory in February despite closing the month up 1.26%. The asset’s performance in February was mainly tied to the movement of bitcoin (BTC) as it sought to weather the bearish storm that prevailed throughout the month.
Ethereum started February on a strong note, closing the first day of the month up 3.55% from its opening price of $1,566. Ups and downs characterized the next few days amid massive volatility. The bears finally took over the scene on February 9, causing a whopping 6.37% intraday loss for ETH.
After subsequent falls, ethereum plunged to $1,461 on February 13, its lowest point for the month. Two days later, the asset staged a comeback with an intraday gain of 7.66%, the highest this year. This rally resulted in a 6-month high of $1,742, but the uptrend later died down.
The battle for supremacy between the bulls and the bears continued and prevailed until the end of February, with ethereum closing the month at $1,605. an increase of 1.26% of its opening value.
Amid the prevailing price fluctuations throughout February, investor sentiment remained strong, as evidenced by a group of massive deposits in the ETH 2.0 contract. Data from Glassnode reveals that the total value of the ETH 2.0 deposit contract hit a 9-month high of $27.3 billion worth of ETH as the Shanghai update nears.
Additionally, Santiment revealed today that the cumulative holdings of the top 10 non-exchange ethereum whale addresses exceeded 25 million ETH. This metric was last observed in 2016 and indicates a massive increase in whale accumulation.
Buterin: Transaction time and gas fees need to improve
Meanwhile, following the asset foreclosure in February, Buterin noted an observation in the network’s performance. Transaction speed and gas fees have seen substantial improvements since the network’s launch seven years ago, but Vitalik Buterin believes there is still work to be done. Furthermore, he stressed the need to improve the UX of ethereum-based wallets.
Buterin made these remarks in a recent blog post published on Feb. 28, in which he recounts some personal experiences he encountered trying to pay for goods using ETH. He revealed that he had experienced numerous transaction time delays.
It also highlighted substantial and unpredictable delays between the time you make a transaction and the time it is accepted on-chain. Buterin said the time could vary from a few seconds to hours.
buterin noted that while the EIP-1559 protocol has significantly improved this transaction time, some cases still require more work. For example, sending one transaction simultaneously with others seriously increases the base fees. Users often wouldn’t expect it because the UI of ETH wallets does not indicate development.
With this in mind, he mentioned that wallet developers should do some work to fix the UX of their platforms regarding transaction inclusion. He applauded the team behind the Brave wallet for making some notable improvements in this regard. This occurs as the network prepares to welcome the Shanghai update.
