Ethereum (ETH) Price: Is the Stage Set for a Major Breakout Above $2,000? - MoneyCheck (2025)

TLDR

• Ethereum (ETH) is maintaining price stability above $1,700 despite recent fluctuations
• A new proposal (EIP-9698) aims to increase Ethereum’s gas limit 100x over four years
• Vitalik Buterin shared a Layer-Zero scalability update that could improve efficiency by up to 832×
• Technical analysis shows a potential bullish target of $2,875 following a falling wedge pattern
• Proposed fee structure reforms aim to balance revenue generation while maintaining competitiveness

Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading around $1,780, maintaining its position above the crucial $1,700 support level despite experiencing a 1.2% decline over the past 24 hours. This price stability comes as key Ethereum researchers introduce new scalability proposals that could transform the network’s transaction capacity.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has shown mixed performance when compared to Bitcoin. While ETH posted weekly returns of +12.4% compared to Bitcoin’s +10.6%, its monthly gains of 6.0% trail behind Bitcoin’s double-digit surge, according to recent data.

This divergence reflects ongoing capital rotation as traders navigate volatile market conditions to execute short-term strategies.

Revolutionary Gas Limit Expansion Plan

Dankrad Feist of the Ethereum Foundation has put forward Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-9698), which aims to increase Ethereum’s gas limit by 100 times over the next four years. The plan outlines a “deterministic gas limit growth schedule” that would gradually raise the current 36 million gas limit to 3.6 billion.

The proposed expansion would occur in two phases: a tenfold increase over approximately two years (164,250 epochs), followed by another tenfold increase. If implemented successfully, this could boost Ethereum’s transaction processing capacity to over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS).

Feist explained in the proposal, “By introducing a predictable exponential growth pattern as a client default, this EIP encourages a sustainable and transparent gas limit trajectory, aligned with expected advancements in hardware and protocol efficiency.”

While the proposal offers major scalability benefits, Feist acknowledges potential challenges, including increased load on less-optimized nodes and longer block propagation times. However, he notes that “the exponential schedule with very gradual increases per epoch gives node operators and developers ample time to adapt and optimize.”

This approach marks a shift from Ethereum’s recent focus on layer-2 solutions, which some critics argue has fragmented the ecosystem into isolated chains with limited interoperability.

Vitalik’s Layer-Zero Update

In what appears to be a timely response to recent criticism from Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a major Layer-Zero scalability update on Sunday.

Buterin reposted research from LayerZero Labs and Succinct Labs proposing a shift from the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to a more efficient zkVM system using RISC-V standards. According to the documentation, this update could expand Ethereum’s network capabilities with:

• Up to 832× fewer cycles than current EVM interpreters
• 95.7% reduction in proving cycles via precompiles
• 30× throughput increase with GPU acceleration
• 346MB → 1.5MB proof compression via recursion

This Layer-Zero framework, if successfully implemented, could address long-term concerns about ecosystem fragmentation and enhance Ethereum’s competitiveness against newer blockchain networks.

Technical Analysis Points to Potential Upside

Technical indicators suggest Ethereum may be poised for growth despite recent price fluctuations. The cryptocurrency has formed a falling wedge pattern following its 12% gains last week, which typically signals a bullish reversal.

The Parabolic SAR indicator, appearing as blue dots below recent price candles, reinforces this bullish trend, suggesting buyers have gained control after months of selling pressure. Additionally, the Fisher Transform indicator shows strong positive momentum with a reading of 2.22.

These technical patterns point to a potential target of $2,875 if the bullish momentum continues. However, failure to maintain support around $1,569 could invalidate this outlook, potentially pushing prices toward $1,385.

Key levels to watch include:

• Immediate support: $1,700
• Critical support: $1,449
• Key resistance: $1,861
• Psychological target: $2,000

Ethereum’s current trading range between $1,725 and $1,850 indicates that bulls are defending important price levels, though a catalyst may be needed for the next major move.

Fee Structure Reforms

Parallel to these scaling initiatives, Ethereum community members Kevin Owocki and Devansh Mehta have proposed a dynamic application layer fee structure. Their proposal uses a square root formula to proportionally lower the percentage of fees as funding capital increases.

This approach aims to balance revenue generation for application developers while ensuring fair fee extraction. Under the proposed structure, fees would cap at 1% once an application’s funding pool reaches $10 million, allowing smaller developers to create decentralized applications without facing excessive costs.

These proposals reflect growing calls to revise Ethereum’s value accrual systems and maintain its economic competitiveness against rising alternatives like Solana, which attracted more new developers than Ethereum in 2024.

Ethereum’s recent price stability, combined with these forward-looking proposals, suggests the network continues to evolve despite challenges. The cryptocurrency’s immediate price action will likely depend on broader market sentiment and the successful implementation of these scalability initiatives.