Open interest in Ethereum futures hits a record $1.5 billion

The open interest (OI) in Ethereum futures reached a new all-time high of $1.5 billion, according to data from the portal skew.

Over the past six months, the pace of OI growth has been twice that of Bitcoin futures. The Block analyst Larry Cermak noted that Ethereum futures open interest in February was eight times lower than that for Bitcoin-based contracts. Now the ratio has fallen by almost half.

Perhaps an even more important chart is the ratio between the open interest of Bitcoin futures and Ethereum futures. Bitcoin’s futures OI was 8 times higher than ETH’s in February. Only 6 months later, it’s now about 4 times higher. OI of ETH grew relatively twice faster than BTC pic.twitter.com/Lxew630iOT

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) August 11, 2020

This dynamic aligns with the spot market. In February, Bitcoin traded around $10,200 and Ethereum around $270. Since then, Bitcoin has risen about 15%, and Ethereum about 45%.

Open interest in Ethereum futures. Source: Skew.

The open interest in Ethereum futures reached the notable psychological threshold of $1.5 billion as the second-largest cryptocurrency breaching the $400 level. The last time such price levels were seen was in August 2018.

Market participants linked the continuation of the uptrend to growth in the popularity of the DeFi space. The network’s record-high fees did not stand in the way.

#Ethereum Sidesteps FUD Regarding #ETH Fees, Breaks $400 Price Ceilinghttps://t.co/sqYNzpcXL9 pic.twitter.com/ASVrFxn7TU

— John Morgan (@johnmorganFL) August 14, 2020

On August 4, developers launched the final testnet for ETH 2.0 Medalla. With no glitches on the testnet after three months, on November 4 the mainnet will begin Phase 0 of the protocol’s second version.

Founder of Quantum Economics Mati Greenspan is confident that the tokenisation and financing of the “new wave” continues to rely on the Ethereum blockchain.

Earlier this week, debates over Ethereum issuance flared up again in the crypto community.

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