Ethereum's price has surged to over $3900, a two-month high, following the SEC's approval of 19b-4 filings for eight spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) related to the digital asset. This marks a week of strong performance for Ethereum, outpacing the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, with ETH's value rising by around 27% while Bitcoin saw a modest 2% increase.

New ATH

Some stakeholders suggest that, similar to how spot Bitcoin ETFs led to a 70% BTC price surge, ETH could also reach a new all-time high. Experts believe the ETF approval signals greater recognition of crypto as a financial asset class, likely leading to more institutional investment.

MicroStrategy's executive chairman, Michael Saylor, supports this view, stating that the ETH ETF approval legitimizes the industry and will encourage more institutional capital into digital assets. This contrasts with his earlier skepticism about Ethereum ETFs being approved.

Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFiance Capital, predicts ETH could hit $4,500 before the ETFs begin trading, noting its current underrepresentation in crypto portfolios. JPMorgan anticipates the ETF launch will occur before the US presidential elections.

Pectra Upgrade

Another significant factor for ETH's upward momentum is the upcoming Pectra upgrade, planned for the first quarter of next year. This upgrade follows the successful implementation of Dencun in March and aims to enhance the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with the Ethereum Virtual Machine Object Format (EOF) and includes 11 improvement proposals.

Developers plan to replace account abstraction EIP-3074 with the more advanced EIP-7702, introduced by co-founder Vitalik Buterin. EIP-7702 will allow Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to function as smart contract wallets, improving user experience and security.