If Bitcoin is the emperor in the coin market, Ethereum is the crown prince.

This is because the market capitalization is second only to Bitcoin and is said to be excellent in various technologies using blockchain

If Bitcoin is the emperor in the coin market, Ethereum is the crown prince. This is because the market capitalization is second only to Bitcoin and is said to be excellent in various technologies using blockchain such as smart contracts. At one point, it was evaluated that its future growth potential surpassed Bitcoin.

Recently, however, Ethereum's rise, which has been quiet for a while, is unusual. In a week, Ethereum surged more than 40%, easily surpassing Bitcoin's rise.

In particular, investors' attention has been focused on the recent surge as it has been pointed out that it is a reasonable rise in terms of technology or the supply and demand of funds.

In May, Ethereum is recording a particularly high rise compared to other coins amid a warm wind in the coin market due to U.S.-China tariff negotiations.

As of the 14th, Ethereum prices rose 46.7% from the previous week to 3,744,000 won. Bitcoin rose by 8% and XRP and Solana rose by 2 to 5 times.

The main reason for the surge in Ethereum is the technical aspect first.

Ethereum's Pectra upgrade was completed on the 7th. Pectra is a major change in four years since the Merge upgrade, which is considered to have opened the era of Ethereum 2.0 by changing the consensus algorithm from proof-of-work (PoW)-based mining like Bitcoin to a proof-of-stake (PoS) method similar to the financial system.

The key is to expand the limit of staking implemented by the PoS method from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH, which has increased 64 times. It is evaluated that the stability and security of the entire Ethereum system have been strengthened by expanding opportunities for institutional investors and large capital to participate.

On top of that, major changes include improving the operational efficiency of verifiers essential for network operation, expanding smart contract functions essential for the development of decentralized finance, and strengthening the scalability of Layer 2, another blockchain main net based on Ethereum.

In particular, the Pectra upgrade received a lot of attention as it was completed stably on the day of implementation without any noise. In the past, large upgrades to Ethereum have caused various controversies, including network outages. Some items were missing from the originally scheduled upgrade due to lack of preparation. However, the upgrade drew favorable reviews that the stability of Ethereum 2.0 was on track as everything scheduled from the start to completion went on quickly.

In addition, the Pectra upgrade is seen as an example of proving that Ethereum has a higher technological superiority than competitors such as Solana and Sui, inducing high responses from institutional investors. Noah Davis, head of research at Mesari, a blockchain analysis company, said, "The upgrade of Perfectra is an important turning point for Ethereum to leap into global financial infrastructure," adding, "The expansion of the stake limit will be a factor that lowers barriers to participation by institutional investors."

In the recent trend of real asset tokenization (RWA), many predict that Ethereum's technological superiority will lead to actual cases. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are already building their digital asset platforms based on Ethereum. BlackRock's first tokenization fund, BUIDL, was also the first to be issued on Ethereum.

As demand for Ethereum increases, the future price outlook is also positive. In the Ethereum options market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the volume of call options, which expects Ethereum to be priced at $10,000 at the end of this year, has increased significantly recently. It is interpreted that the number of investors betting on strength based on technological superiority has increased.

Given the recent boom in the coin market as a whole, some analysts say that Ethereum has only soared for a short time due to its low-priced appeal. This is because Ethereum was rather at a standstill when Bitcoin rose up to seven times over the past three years, including a new all-time high in January this year. Although it has soared recently, the price of Ethereum is around 65% compared to its all-time high.

The reason for Ethereum's relative weakness compared to Bitcoin is that it is relatively shunned by investors. Since the launch of the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), demand from institutional investors has been concentrated in Bitcoin. Bitcoin prices have nearly tripled since the launch of spot ETFs in January last year, but Ethereum has fallen in price since its launch in July, contrary to expectations. This is because institutional investors only organize Bitcoin in the coin sector among their investment portfolios. This is the result of institutional investors investing first in Bitcoin's digital gold properties and taking a wait-and-see stance on Ethereum's decentralized financial growth.

Recently, however, as the trend of financial innovation based on blockchain technology such as stablecoin and RWA has begun in earnest, interest in Ethereum is increasing.

On top of that,