🚀 Ethereum Soars Past $2,600 as U.S. Payroll Data Ignites Crypto Rally

Ethereum just blasted through a critical resistance level—and Wall Street's favorite economic indicator lit the fuse.

The payroll pump: Friday's jobs report sent shockwaves through risk assets, with ETH leading the charge. The smart contract platform gained 8% in 12 hours as traders bet on Fed policy softening.

Technical breakout: That $2,600 ceiling had held firm since May. Today's surge flips it into support—and opens the path toward $3,000 if macro conditions hold. (Cue the 'ETH to moon' tweets.)

Meanwhile in TradFi: Gold bugs scowled as crypto ate their inflation-hedge lunch. Again. Maybe try adding some blockchain to those boomer portfolios?

This isn't just altcoin season—it's a full-scale rotation into decentralized infrastructure. And with staking yields beating savings accounts by 15x? The math keeps getting harder to ignore.

Why is Ethereum surging?

The rally is fueled by a mix of macroeconomic signals, institutional activity, and strengthening on-chain metrics, which point to a renewed investor appetite for the crypto asset.

In fact, one of the main drivers behind the ETH rally is a wave of Optimism in traditional markets. U.S. payroll numbers released earlier today came in weaker than expected, reinforcing hopes that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates sooner rather than later.

With lower rates potentially reducing the cost of capital and boosting demand for riskier assets, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum are experiencing renewed inflows. Data from SoSoValue shows that even though Ethereum ETFs have seen outflows of $1.82 million, its cumulative total net inflow is still standing tall at $4.25 billion.

Another possible reason behind the boost is the recently held Ethereum Community Conference, where co-founder Vitalik Buterin talked about the future of crypto, as well as called out fake decentralization claims in the industry.