ETH Rallies Toward $2600 amid Smart Contracts and Whale Activity Spike

Ethereum ETH/USD is trading at $2,566.47, up about 1.65% on the daily charts, with a weekly gain of 5.23%. The token is approaching a key resistance level near $3000, with a high of $2,598 and a low of around $2,480 today. Ethereum is on a bull run amid a surge in smart contract deployments, and the Ethereum co-founder's vision for national payments.

BeinCrypto noted a sharp increase in the number of smart contracts being launched on Ethereum. As per Etherscan, daily smart contract deployments on Ethereum have soared in 2025, reaching their highest daily levels since the 2021 bull market, when ETH peaked above $4,800. The surge is fueled by the anticipation surrounding the Spectra upgrade.

Don't Miss:

Trade crypto futures on Plus500 with up to $200 in bonuses — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different strategies.
New to trading crypto? Get up to $400 in rewards for successfully completing short educational courses and placing your first qualifying trade on Coinbase.

Per CryptoQuant, accumulation wallets—typically controlled by whales—now hold nearly 21 million ETH, accounting for 17.5% of the circulating supply. The record-level accumulation points to a strong long-term confidence in Ethereum.

Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently proposed that ETH could function as an emergency financial system, provided it achieves sufficient privacy and resilience. His remarks followed policy reversals in Sweden and Norway, two of the most cashless economies in the world, which are now advising citizens to keep physical currency on hand.

Buterin cited the developments as proof of the risks tied to centralized digital systems, emphasizing that decentralized networks like Ethereum, if technically equipped, could step in as a national payment fallback during crises.

To mark the launch of Pectra Upgrade, Wconnect Initiative has kicked off a global campaign running from May 23 to June 14. Aimed at traders, developers, and crypto fans, the event offers a $120,000 prize pool, including trading rewards and deposit bonuses to encourage engagement with Ethereum's evolving ecosystem.

A series of webinars featuring developers and researchers from Ethereum is set to be held. The sessions will cover key themes including the impact of liquid staking derivatives, post-upgrade changes in the layer 2 ecosystems, the adoption of account abstraction, and methods for identifying profitable trends during Ethereum's upgrade cycles. After each session, participants can join the Pectra Quiz Challenge to test their knowledge and win rewards.

According to LookOnChain, trader 0Xcb92 has opened a fresh, highly leveraged long position on Ethereum just hours after securing $1.1 million in profit from a previous ETH long. The new trade involves ETH worth $38.57 million, placed with 25x leverage. The trade was executed when ETH was trading near $2,571.33, placing the liquidation threshold at $2,441.9, about 5% below the entry point. The narrow liquidation range implies that any minor downturn could trigger forced selling, potentially pressuring market liquidity and the price action.

Ethereum has found strong support at $2,460 after bouncing back into an upward trend. After briefly dipping to a low of $2,463, ETH regained momentum, breaking past $2,500 and $2,520 levels.

ETH is holding above the 100-hour SMA, and is facing immediate resistance at $2,600. A successful move above this zone could push ETH toward $2,630, with the next resistance at $2,650. If buying pressure sustains, a breakout above $2,650 could see ETH retest the $2,720 level.

More Opportunities: