Cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) hit near two-month highs ahead of updates to its underlying blockchain dubbed “EIP-1559”.

ETH is the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation and is commonly used in practical applications of blockchain and in facilitating the creation of NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The update, also called the “London hard fork”, is aimed at making Ethereum transaction fees more predictable for users.

Under the previous system, ETH buyers had to submit competing bids to have their transactions processed by miners – making transactions fees much higher when the ETH network is busy.

After the update, users will pay a base transaction fee automatically determined by the level of network activity.

ETH users will also be able to provide “tips” to enable their transactions to be processed faster.

In addition, a portion of every transaction fee will be “burned”, or removed from circulation, reducing the overall supply of ETH and potentially raising its price.

The update took place earlier today.

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