Ethereum Market Update: ETH/USD back on recovery track, $400.00 in focus

• Ethereum is ready to make another attempt to break above $400.00.
• ETH developners launched the final testnet for Ethereum 2.0.

Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset came close to $400. If this psychological barrier is cleared, the price may retest the recent high of $415 and continue the recovery towards $450. ETH has gained nearly 2% since the beginning of the day and stayed unchanged on a day-to-day basis.

ETH/USD: Technical picture

On the intraday charts, ETH/USD broke above the upper line of the 1-hour Bollinger Band. The local support is created by 1-hour SMA50 at $390.00. Once it is out of the way, the sell-off is likely to gain traction with the next focus on 1-hour SMA100 at $380. However, considering the upward-looking RSI, the coin has a potential to continue the recovery with the next focus on the recent high of $415.00.

ETH/USD 1-hour chart

Over 20,000 validators joined the final testnet of Ethereum 2.0 

On August 4, Ethereum developers launched the final testnet of ETH 2.0 known as Medalla. Currently, over 20,000 validators joined the network and 3,670 are in a waiting mode. The network does not support real ETH, however, 651,168 test coins were deposited for staking purposes. The onchain statistics can be monitored via the testnet blockchain browser or in a dedicated section of Etherscan.

Ethereum developer Hudson Jameson expects that the number of validators will continue growing. He called for the hype around the upcoming ETH 2.0 launch.

Medalla won’t use real ETH and it does not allow to earn real staking rewards. The network is aimed exclusively at preparing the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of capitalization for the transition to the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.

All testnets were previously considered devnets, intended for developer clients and Ethereum Foundation contributors. However, Medalla’s stability and functionality is ensured by validators.

The new network is initially supported by five clients: Lighthouse, Nimbus, Prysm, Teku and Lodestar. In the future, the developers will add support for Cortex and Trinity. The first phase of Ethereum 2.0 will launch on the mainnet on November 4th, if Medalla trials are successfully passed.