By Emma Richardson, Senior Correspondent | CSN News | April 10, 2026
The Ethereum surge lifted its price 3.3% to $2,242.77 on April 10, 2026. CoinMarketCap recorded the price at 4 p.m. UTC amid spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings from BlackRock and Fidelity. Ethereum's market capitalization reached $270.7 billion USD.
Trading volume rose 12% in the prior 24 hours, CoinMarketCap data showed. Bitcoin rose 2.8% to $68,450 USD. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization increased 2.1% to $2.45 trillion USD.
Ethereum exceeded $2,200 during the session, TradingView charts showed. Glassnode reported 1.2 million daily active addresses, up from 1.05 million the prior day.
U.S. Economic Data
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 180,000 nonfarm payrolls added in March 2026, beating estimates of 165,000. Unemployment held at 3.8%. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated in a press conference that inflation cooled to 2.4% annually from 2.6% in February.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7% to 18,920 points. Nvidia shares gained 3.2% after reporting $28 billion USD in AI chip sales for Q1 2026, exceeding analyst forecasts by 5%, per company earnings release.
Spot ETF Filings from BlackRock and Fidelity
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received updated filings from BlackRock and Fidelity on April 8, 2026. Both applications seek approval for ETH-backed spot ETFs. Spot ETFs hold the underlying asset directly, unlike futures contracts.
Bitcoin spot ETFs, approved in January 2024, attracted over $50 billion USD in inflows within 15 months, ETF.com data showed. SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a Bloomberg interview on April 9, 2026, the agency reviews assets based on market maturity.
Ethereum completed its proof-of-stake transition in 2022, Gensler noted. Polymarket data showed 65% approval odds for ETH ETFs. Fidelity Digital Assets Vice President Chris Kuiper told Reuters on April 10, 2026, ETH ETFs could attract $15 billion USD in inflows in the first year.
Grayscale Investments filed an amended 19b-4 form on April 9, 2026. Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart raised approval odds to 70% from 55% the prior week.
Ethereum Ecosystem Growth
Ethereum supports decentralized finance (DeFi) and smart contracts. Developers deployed 450,000 new contracts in Q1 2026, up 18% from Q4 2025, Etherscan data showed. The number of Ethereum validators surpassed 1 million in March 2026, per Beaconcha.in.
Layer-2 solutions Optimism and Arbitrum processed 85% of transactions. Average fees fell to $0.15 USD from $0.28 USD a month earlier.
DeFi total value locked reached $145 billion USD, Dune Analytics reported. Ethereum captured 62% of total DeFi TVL, DeFiLlama data indicated. Uniswap recorded $4.2 billion USD in 24-hour volume.
NFT sales totaled $320 million USD, led by Ethereum collections, CryptoSlam data showed. Bored Ape Yacht Club sales topped $45 million USD.
The Pectra upgrade schedules for May 2026. Core developers announced EIP-7702 inclusion at the April 9 All Core Devs call. EIP-7702 improves account abstraction for better user experience.
JPMorgan Chase integrated Ethereum into its Onyx blockchain on April 7, 2026. The bank tokenized $500 million USD in U.S. Treasury bonds and real estate assets, company filings showed.
Technical Indicators
Peter Brandt of Factor LLC said the relative strength index (RSI) for ETH/USD reached 62 on four-hour charts. The 50-day moving average stood at $2,150 USD. Brandt noted momentum building above the 200-day average of $2,050 USD.
Open interest in ETH futures rose 8% to $12.4 billion USD on CME Group. Funding rates stood at 0.015%, Coinglass data showed.
Addresses holding over 1,000 ETH added 45,000 tokens in the past week, Santiment reported. Exchange inflows dropped 22% to 85,000 ETH.
Financial and Tech Developments
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a CNBC interview on April 10, 2026, blockchain will underpin 10% of global assets by 2030. Ethereum holds 62% market share in ERC-20 tokens, TokenTerminal data showed.
The European Union's MiCA framework activates on July 1, 2026, classifying ETH as a non-security. This status eases institutional adoption in Europe.
ETH traded 15% lower year-to-date as of April 9, CoinMarketCap data showed. The Federal Reserve meets on April 30, 2026, to discuss rate cuts.
Market Sentiment
Coinbase app downloads rose 25% in 24 hours, App Annie data showed. Social sentiment reached 78/100 on LunarCrush, up from 65/100 a week ago.
Peter Brandt of Factor LLC targets $2,400 USD next, with support at $2,100 USD.
This Ethereum surge highlights ongoing developments in software-driven finance as ETF decisions pend.
