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	Good Thursday morning. Billy Bambrough here with what's driving the day in the world of bitcoin and crypto.

24-hour smart chain snapshot

$2,610

$325.58

$1.35

$18.43

Getting high on ether


	Cryptocurrency prices are climbing today as traders cheer the wave of media attention brought on by the first in a string of long-awaited ethereum upgrades. Ethereum, worth a combined $300 billion compared to bitcoin's $700 billion, is soaring as traders pile into the cryptocurrency ahead of the closely-watched London hard fork that's expected to improve network efficiency, fee predictability and reduce token supply. The price of ethereum's ether token is up around 8%, with bitcoin riding its coattails for a change. While bitcoin is still the crypto market's prime-mover, ethereum's rally over the last year has far outpaced bitcoin and most other major cryptocurrencies. Ethereum is up over 500% on this time last year as demand for decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) built and traded on its blockchain explodes. Ethereum's biggest smart chain rivals, all looking to win DeFi and NFT market share from ethereum, are also riding the upgrade wave. Binance's BNB, cardano, polkadot and solana are up between 1% and 7%.

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Ethereum rocks the boat



	Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin is the project's spiritual leader © 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP


	Ethereum's London upgrade, perhaps the network's most significant update since it was launched in 2015, goes live today—expected at around 8am EDT. Hit the gas: The upgrade includes Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, which will change the way transaction fees (gas) are calculated and hopefully ease the often staggeringly high charges. More controversial, however, is a change that will see part of every transaction fee destroyed—or "burned"—fundamentally changing the economics of the second-biggest cryptocurrency and backbone of the decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT market. Costing the Earth: Ethereum's high fees have stunned users in recent months. Average transaction fee levels on the network shot above $60 as recently as mid-May before crashing down to a six-month low of $4.42 as the crypto market cooled, according to data from Coin Metrics. A long road: Today's update is part of ethereum's long-awaited move away from the energy-intensive proof-of-work mining model used by bitcoin to proof-of-stake—allowing users to generate new ether tokens via their existing holdings. Now watch this: Ethereum cofounder Joseph Lubin on why ethereum will eventually be "orders of magnitude" bigger than bitcoin Sound money: Many ethereum investors are hoping the reduction to ethereum's token supply will see its price increase. Earlier this year, ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin said the upgrade could mean ethereum becomes more "sound" than bitcoin—referring to a currency's stability and utility as a store of value. Supply shock or priced in? The expected change to ethereum's supply of ether tokens will reignite the bitcoin halving debate where economists and investors argue over whether a clearly telegraphed change to supply will affect the asset's price or if it's priced in by the market. Bitcoin's price performance since its last halving just over a year ago suggests its supply cut wasn't priced it. But don't expect that to settle anything.

👀 Eyes on D.C.


	💥 After lawmakers sent shockwaves through the crypto industry and market last week with badly-thought through proposals to tax crypto traders, all eyes are how the infrastructure bill's crypto provision will progress. 📝 Yesterday, crypto industry supporters in the U.S. Senate filed an amendment that would mean miners and providers of crypto services would not be required to follow new tax-reporting rules on crypto brokers, it was reported by MarketWatch. 👩 The amendment was introduced by Republican senator (and bitcoin holder) Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and fellow Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, as well as Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. 💬 "Digital assets are here to stay," Lummis said in a press release. "While much more work needs to be done, this amendment is a responsible step toward fully incorporating digital assets into the U.S. financial sector." 🤔 It's thought the amendment will likely be considered by the weekend, with the infrastructure bill itself expected to be voted on "by early next week," according to analysts at Beacon Policy Advisors.

	Billy Bambrough
	Forbes Contributor

I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.

Follow me on Twitter or email me.

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