Publication date: December 29, 2025 21:00
As Bitcoin competes on a psychological level, Ethereum (ETH) has emerged as the best performer among the top assets this week.
On December 29, 2025, ETH managed to regain the $3,000 benchmark, boosted by the release of a detailed technology roadmap for two major upgrades in 2026 (Gramsteldam and Hegota).
Engineering the future of scalability
Gramsterdam (first half of 2026): The primary focus of the first upgrade in 2026 will be Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), tracked in EIP-7732. This feature aims to formalize the roles of “block builder” and “proposer” directly into the Ethereum protocol. By doing so, developers aim to distribute MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) more equitably and reduce centralization pressure on large-scale validators.
Hegota (second half of 2026): The long-awaited Verkle Trees will be introduced in the second half of this year. This new data structure is designed to replace the aging Merkle proof and significantly reduces the amount of data nodes that need to be stored. This “statelessness” allows users to run nodes on significantly cheaper hardware and strengthens Ethereum’s decentralized integrity over high-performance competitors like Solana.
institutional accumulation
The technological momentum is reflected in the activities of the “whales”. Institutional investors like Bitmine added over 44,000 ETH to their portfolios in the last week of December alone. This “buy the roadmap” action suggests that the professional class is looking beyond short-term price fluctuations to a future where Ethereum serves as a global “settlement layer” for tokenized real-world assets.
The $3,000 recovery is more than just a price change. It represents a “reversal of confidence.” As developers ramp up discussions for a 100,000 TPS future, Ethereum is positioning itself not just as a currency, but as the world’s most resilient and scalable decentralized computer.
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