High-Stakes Bet Signals Renewed Confidence in Ethereum
A crypto trader has placed over $2 million on ether (ETH) call options, predicting a sharp rally past $3,200 to $3,400 by the end of June. The move comes amid growing optimism surrounding Ethereum’s recent technical upgrades and speculation around regulatory developments.
According to Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, the trader purchased 61,000 June expiry call contracts — split across strike prices of $3,200 and $3,400 — when ETH was trading near $2,460. This implies a bullish bet on more than a 30% price rally within just three weeks.
Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Ignites Bullish Momentum
Much of the recent optimism stems from Ethereum’s successful implementation of the Pectra upgrade on May 7. This update included EIP-7702, allowing standard wallets to access smart contract functionality, and expanded validator participation by raising the validator cap from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH.
The upgrade also doubled “blob” throughput, significantly boosting Layer-2 scalability and validator efficiency, which is seen as a major leap forward for network usability and performance.
According to Youwei Yang, Ph.D., chief economist at BIT Mining, these upgrades are not only technical improvements, but “a clear signal that Ethereum is focused on long-term scalability and adoption.”
Institutional Endorsements Add to the Bullish Case
Adding further confidence, SharpLink Gaming announced a $425 million allocation into Ethereum as part of its treasury strategy. This move echoes early corporate adoption trends seen with Bitcoin and positions ETH as a potential Treasury-grade asset.
Yang emphasized, “It could be the start of a new wave of corporate ether adoption.”
Anticipation Builds Around Spot ETH ETF with Staking
Market speculation is also heating up over the potential approval of a U.S.-regulated spot ETH ETF, especially one with staking features. Such a product would allow institutions to benefit from both ETH price appreciation and staking yield — a capability currently absent in Bitcoin ETFs.
Conclusion
The recent $2M call option bet, coupled with network upgrades and institutional activity, underscores a renewed wave of optimism for ether’s near-term price potential. As Ethereum strengthens its technical foundation and the ETF narrative gains momentum, many eyes will be on whether ETH can break the $3,400 mark before June ends.