Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Ethereum Keeps Breaking Records, Worth More Than Bank of America

Ethereum Keeps Breaking Records, Worth More Than Bank of America

Ether's milestone comes with surging trader interest in the leading smart-contracts blockchain.

Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, surged Monday to a new record price of over $3,200 amid fresh speculation the network’s value might soar as more traders warm to the potential of decentralized finance, known as DeFi, and other uses like non-fungible tokens or NFTs.

The 10% gain was the biggest in two months, and the new all-time high price of $3,253 came just hours after the market topped $3,000 for the first time. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has risen for nine straight days, its longest winning streak since the bull market of late 2017 and early 2018. The ether price has quadrupled just this year alone, outperforming bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, which has doubled.

Ether now has a market capitalization of $364 billion, exceeding that of Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, as well as that of the entertainment giant Walt Disney and food conglomerate Nestle.

The latest price move comes amid signs of growing interest in ether from big institutional investors and Wall Street firms – similar to the dynamic that propelled bitcoin to a market capitalization over $1 trillion earlier this year.

Late last week, the Wall Street investment-research firm FundStrat predicted ether could surge to $10,000 this year, powered by enthusiasm over DeFi’s growth and advances in Internet-based financial applications.

“It used to be the other way around, but now Bitcoin is riding the coattails of Ethereum,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the brokerage Oanda, wrote Monday in an email.

The daily transaction count has increased by 22% to 1.376 million this year, per data provided by Glassnode. The Ethereum network settled $1.5 million in transactions in the first quarter alone, more than the combined tally of the previous seven quarters.What’s Driving Ether’s Ascent to New Record Highs?Ether’s momentum is showing no sign of stopping. The cryptocurrency broke past the $3K barrier for the first time, reaching a new all-time high of $3.2K. “The Hash” panel weighs in on what’s driving ether’s booming price and what it indicates about where the crypto industry is headed.Volume 90%

“These applications are generating ~3x fees for the Ethereum network vs. Bitcoin, which trades at ~3x the market cap,” FundStrat’s David Grider wrote.

Even analysts for JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, have acknowledged the network’s promise – despite some predictions that the success of DeFi’s automated, blockchain-based trading and lending applications might eventually steal market share from traditional financial firms.

“In combination with the continued growth for DeFi and other components of the Ethereum-based economy, this suggests some technical but occasionally important bullish tailwinds versus bitcoin,” according to JPMorgan.

The network CoinMetrics data shows the number of active addresses recently climbed to a new all-time high of 771,000, surpassing the previous record of 739,000 set in November.

And according to DeFi Pulse, which tracks use of DeFi applications, the amount of collateral locked in decentralized trading, lending and insurance applications has climbed to $72 billion, a fourfold increase so far in 2021. The figure was less than $1 billion at the start of 2020.

The total market capitalization for DeFi recently topped $100 billion, with some of the most popular projects, like Uniswap and Compound, built on the Ethereum blockchain.

“Ether is one of the main beneficiaries in the wider explosion in the cryptocurrency market,” Nigel Green, chief executive officer of deVere Group, wrote in emailed comments. “The boom over recent months has been fueled by soaring interest from major institutional investors and growing recognition that borderless digital currencies are the future of money.”

Some traders are buying options to bet on further gains – including the prospect of a rally in the ether price to $5,000 by the end of May.

One catalyst might be the so-called Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, or EIP 1559, which is designed to make transactions on the blockchain more efficient. But it could also counteract any inflation that comes from new supplies of the cryptocurrency being mined into existence.

The change, approved in March, is supposed to take effect in July as part of a network upgrade known as the London hard fork.

“Investors are just starting to digest the potential impact on the economics of Ethereum,” Martin Gaspar, a research analyst at CrossTower, said Monday on CoinDesk TV’s First Mover show.

Additional excitement comes from Ethereum’s planned “Eth 2.0” upgrade, which will transform the network from using the energy-hungry proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, similar to bitcoin’s, to a more capital-intensive proof-of-stake (PoS) system. A consensus mechanism is the system a blockchain uses to confirm transactions and assure network security.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin gave a presentation recently on the network’s development roadmap after its merge to proof-of-stake, including a long-awaited feature known as sharding that could boost transaction throughput and speed. Sharding will expand Ethereum’s capacity to process transactions by splitting its database into 64 new mini-blockchains, addressing network congestion.

High fees on the Ethereum blockchain has been a nagging source of complaints among users, spurring the growing use of rival blockchains such as Binance Smart Chain, which is affiliated with Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.

Cryptocurrency traders have bid up prices for Binance’s BNB token as well as digital assets associated with so-called Ethereum killers, include Solana and Polkadot.

Ether “is already years ahead of bitcoin in everything but price and fame,” according to deVere’s Green. “There’s a real sense that 2021 is the year for ether. Its time has come.”

The native token of Ethereum’s blockchain clocked a record high of $3,252 around 16:45 coordinated universal time, having crossed above the $3,000 mark during Asian hours.

At press time, ether was changing hands at $3,229, up 6.5% in the past 24 hours.

Source: Fintechs.fi – Fintech News

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×