The Theta projection has been making waves alongside many other altcoins that are riding this year's bullish moving ridge to new all-time highs.

While the main token of the Theta network has been receiving a majority of the attention, the 'gas' token of the protocol, TFUEL, has quietly been surging alongside THETA as its importance to the network becomes apparent to savvy crypto investors.

TFUEL/USDT 4-60 minutes chart. Source: TradingView

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of TFUEL has increased 775% over the past 5 weeks, going from $0.026 on Feb. 1 to a new all-time high at $0.22 on March 10 equally the network underwent a hard fork at 12pm PST.

Fundamentals bear witness TFU is more than just a gas token

The dual token model rose to prominence in 2017 with the emergence of Neo (NEO) and Gas (GAS) as an alternative to the single token model that continues to be plagued with loftier transaction costs as the prices of Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) increase.

Theta Fuel was created when the Theta mainnet launched in 2019 and it is designed to be the operational token of the protocol, powering on-chain operations like sending payments and deploying smart contracts.

A significant difference between Theta and other dual token models is holders who stake THETA in validator and guardian nodes assist to secure the network and earn TFUEL as a reward.

According to data from the Theta explorer, 57.96% of the 1 billion available THETA are staked on the network as of March 10, a figure that has been slowly increasing as the project attracts more attention.

As more THETA is staked on the network, the role TFUEL plays in the ecosystem increases as the token begins to exist used more to collaborate with customs members and transfer value.

Following the launch of Theta 3.0 on April 21, token holders will be to stake TFUEL as another way to earn passive income and assistance secure the network. The upgrade volition also innovate a new burning mechanism that is essentially a "network fee" for using the Theta edge. This could eventually lead to farther reductions in the supply of TFUEL and increase its price.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for TFUEL on March 6, prior to the contempo price ascension.

The VORTECS™ score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and electric current market place conditions derived from a combination of data points including marketplace sentiment, trading book, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (light-green) vs. TFUEL price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart to a higher place, the VORTECS™ score for TFUEL reached a loftier of lxx on March vi and was followed by another spike to 67 on March 7, which was less than 6 hours before the price rallied 56% over the next 48-hours days.

Due to the network hard fork on March x, some may encounter the recent rise in the price of THETA and TFUEL equally a "buy the rumor, sell the news" type of issue, merely upcoming developments for the protocol including the Theta 3.0 mainnet launch suggest that the rally for this dual token arrangement may just be getting started.

As smart contract features come up online and enable NFT creation and decentralized finance applications, the Theta ecosystem is well-positioned to concenter new users and back up increased engagement, which has the potential to lead to farther upside for THETA and TFUEL.

The views and opinions expressed hither are solely those of the author and exercise not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.