A 42% surge was recorded in Ether’s market capitalization, allowing it to exceed the valuations of Coca-Cola and Alibaba, following the implementation of the Pectra upgrade by Ethereum, which enhanced layer-2 scalability and validator functionalities.
Ether’s market capitalization surged by 42% over five days after Ethereum successfully deployed the Pectra upgrade on its mainnet.
As of May 12, data from the company tracker 8marketcap indicated that Ether had overtaken Coca-Cola and Alibaba, positioning it as the 39th-largest asset globally by market capitalization. At the time of publication, ETH traded at approximately $2,550, pushing its market capitalization beyond $308 billion.
In comparison, Coca-Cola shares trade at approximately $70, resulting in a market capitalization of $303.5 billion, while Alibaba’s stock trades near $125, bringing its total market value to around $303.7 billion.
The recent movement in ETH’s price has followed a network upgrade that enhanced the storage efficiency of layer-2 scaling data, along with improvements to validator usability and the functionality of smart account wallets.
Ethereum Deploys Pectra Upgrade on Mainnet
Originally scheduled for release in March 2025, the Pectra upgrade faced delays after developers encountered technical issues during the testing phase.
On February 24, developers launched the Pectra upgrade on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet, but the network failed to finalize after deployment, prompting an investigation. They then deployed the upgrade to the Sepolia testnet on March 5, where they encountered further issues, including disruptions caused by an attacker who triggered the mining of empty blocks.
In preparation for the final deployment, Ethereum core developers created a new testnet named “Hoodi” before they ultimately launched the upgrade on the mainnet on May 7.
The upgrade allows externally owned accounts (EOAs) to function as smart contracts, enabling users to pay gas fees and transactions with tokens other than ETH. It also raises the staking limit for validators from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, streamlining operations for major stakers. Additionally, the upgrade boosts scalability for layer-2 networks by increasing the number of data blobs allowed per block.
Following the upgrade, ETH’s price rose significantly. According to CoinGecko, Ether traded at approximately $1,786 on May 7. By May 12, its value had climbed to $2,550, marking a 42% increase.
Security Experts Caution Against Vulnerabilities Following Pectra Upgrade
Despite its benefits, the upgrade introduced security concerns. Cybersecurity experts warned that a new transaction type, implemented through the upgrade, could be exploited by malicious actors to gain control over EOAs without requiring users to sign on-chain transactions.
Solidity smart contract auditor Arda Usman previously warned that such vulnerabilities could allow attackers to deplete funds by using off-chain signed messages.
