Investors drove up the price of ethereum ( ETH-USD ) to an eight-month high on Thursday after the network's so-called Shanghai, or Shapella, upgrade Wednesday evening was marked as a success. At $2.01K as of 4:06 p.m. ET, ether ( ETH-USD ), up 5.4% , changed hands at its highest level seen since last August, extending its year-to-date rally to 65.8%. Still, the token has more catching up to do, off 35.5% from a year before, as the industry continues to digest a round of high-profile failures and ongoing macroeconomic headwinds. Ether's ( ETH-USD ) intraday rally, accompanied by a slew of other major coins in the green, helped boost the global crypto market value by 2.6% to $1.26T, according to CoinMarketCap data . Dhierin Bechai, investing groups leader of 'The Aerospace Forum,' last month laid out his take on ether's Shapella hard fork and the seemingly "downside risk on the staking rewards."
