After months of being undervalued, ETH surged over 40% - its best performance since the 2021 bull run. And this wasn't a random rally, but a return to fundamental value. The market had been too focused on "faster" and "cheaper" blockchains, ignoring Ethereum's core strength: scalability, modularity and architectural stability.

🥩 More ETH than ever before is now staked - 34.8 million ETH locked, according to Dune Analytics. That's not just a record, it's a reflection of growing confidence in the network's direction.

Despite dropping to $1385 in April, Ether never changed course. The Layer 2 ecosystem kept expanding: increased blob space, new rollups, improved data availability. On the UX front, EIP-7702 (Pectra upgrade) was introduced - a move toward native interoperability between L2s. Layer 1 kept evolving too: block time was reduced to 8 seconds, gas limits increased.

None of this made flashy headlines, but this kind of steady engineering work is what builds lasting value. While Solana and Avalanche chase speed, Ethereum builds the long-term infrastructure of Web3 - not monolithic, but modular. Appchains keep up to 95% of their fees, while using Ethereum as a secure settlement layer.

And it makes economic sense. If your app generates millions in fees, why pay them to an L1? Only apps that require maximum security and liquidity stay on it directly - and Ethereum still leads in both.

Add to this the global context 🌍 The new trade agreement between the US and UK eased macro tensions, risk assets rallied. Gold broke above $3324, indices went green - and Ethereum simply caught up to its fair value.

This rally isn't a pump - it's a correction of market oversight. ETH chose the slower, more deliberate path. And while others chase attention, it confidently becomes the infrastructure standard.

Chart: ETH/USDT 3D (WhiteBIT)