Ethereum continued to trade above the $3,100 level on Sunday, holding firm amid a mild recovery across the broader cryptocurrency market as investors selectively returned to risk assets.
Market data showed Ethereum hovering around $3,111, supported by renewed bargain hunting activity across major exchanges. The move came as total cryptocurrency market capitalisation edged higher by approximately 50 basis points, reaching $3.11 trillion, driven largely by price stability in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Ethereum’s performance modestly outpaced the broader digital asset market, recording gains that aligned with its short-term weekly trend, even as the asset remains under pressure on a month-to-date basis.
Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum posted a price increase of roughly 1%, trading at $3,111, while daily trading volume declined sharply by 61.06% to $6.34 billion. Despite the reduced turnover, Ethereum’s market capitalisation stood at approximately $375.47 billion, reinforcing its position as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value.
Market participants are increasingly positioning ahead of Ethereum’s planned protocol upgrades scheduled for 2026. Developers have outlined changes aimed at improving network efficiency, significantly reducing block times, and enabling Ethereum to support artificial intelligence-driven applications and autonomous on-chain agents.
Ethereum core developers have confirmed that zero-knowledge proofs will be integrated as a native protocol feature by 2026. The move is expected to reduce validator computational burden while enabling throughput of up to 10,000 transactions per second. This development builds on the success of the Fusaka upgrade implemented in December, which increased Layer-2 throughput by as much as eight times.
Crypto analysts suggest that the anticipated scalability improvements could significantly enhance Ethereum’s attractiveness to decentralised application developers and enterprise users, directly boosting demand for ETH as network usage expands.
At the same time, recent security concerns have underscored the importance of continued vigilance. A newly identified Truebit exploit has renewed calls for robust smart contract auditing and enhanced security frameworks across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Ethereum’s footprint in decentralised finance continues to expand, bolstered by Robinhood’s launch of a Layer-2 network built on Arbitrum. The initiative is expected to accelerate real-world asset tokenisation and further embed Ethereum infrastructure within traditional financial services.
Institutional confidence in Ethereum was further reinforced by BitMine Immersion Technologies, led by market strategist Tom Lee. The firm disclosed that it had staked an additional 86,400 ETH, valued at approximately $266 million, through Ethereum’s Batch Deposit contract.
This latest deployment brings BitMine’s total staked Ethereum holdings to 1.08 million ETH, representing about 3.43% of the total circulating supply. The company plans to launch a U.S.-based Ethereum Validator Network in the first quarter of 2026, signalling a long-term commitment to the asset and its yield-generating potential, currently estimated at around 2.8%.
Analysts view the aggressive staking strategy as structurally bullish for Ethereum, as large-scale corporate participation reduces liquid supply while reinforcing ETH’s emerging role as a treasury-grade digital asset. However, they caution that such concentration could raise concerns around validator centralisation over time.
Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that Ethereum exchange-traded funds experienced net outflows of $68.57 million between January 6 and January 9, reversing $282.87 million in prior inflows. Total net assets held by Ethereum spot ETFs now stand at $18.70 billion.
The pullback reflects heightened institutional caution amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty, fading expectations of near-term interest rate cuts, and ongoing volatility in Bitcoin markets. JPMorgan analysts note that the ETF outflows likely reflect portfolio rebalancing rather than panic selling, though sustained weakness in inflows could weigh on ETH prices in the near term.
Ethereum currently faces competing market forces. On one side are bullish catalysts from corporate staking activity and major protocol upgrades; on the other are ETF outflows and broader macroeconomic headwinds.
Despite the subdued momentum, analysts say Ethereum’s ability to hold above key technical levels reflects cautious optimism tied to long-term network fundamentals and strategic capital allocation, even as uncertainty limits the scope for sharper short-term gains.
