Ether Surges 42%, Overtakes Coca-Cola and Alibaba After Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade
Ether’s market capitalization soared by 42% over five days following Ethereum’s successful implementation of the Pectra upgrade, which enhanced layer-2 scaling and validator features.
As of May 12, data from 8marketcap showed Ether climbing past Coca-Cola and Alibaba in market cap, securing the 39th spot among global assets. At the time of reporting, ETH was trading near $2,550 with a market capitalization exceeding $308 billion.
For context, Coca-Cola’s market cap sits at about $303.5 billion with shares priced around $70, while Alibaba’s is roughly $303.7 billion with shares at $125.
The Pectra upgrade, which improved how Ethereum handles layer-2 data storage, validator functionality, and smart wallet usability, appears to have driven the surge. Initially scheduled for March 2025, the upgrade faced delays due to technical issues during testnet phases on Holesky and Sepolia. An attacker exacerbated problems on Sepolia by triggering empty block mining.
To ensure readiness, Ethereum developers introduced a new testnet, “Hoodi,” before finally deploying Pectra to the mainnet on May 7.
Key changes from the upgrade include enabling externally owned accounts to function like smart contracts—allowing them to pay gas fees with non-ETH tokens—and raising the validator staking cap from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. The update also boosts data blob capacity per block, significantly improving layer-2 scalability.
Following the upgrade, Ether’s value jumped from around $1,786 on May 7 to $2,550 by May 12, marking a 42% price increase.
