Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, reached an all-time high on Wednesday, catching up with bitcoin’s climb and riding rumors of more blockchain usage.
The ether token, which powers the ethereum blockchain network, reached $4,643 in Asian hours, surpassing the previous day’s high of $4,600 and extending the week’s gains to more than 10%.
Other tokens on the basic layer of blockchain networks, known as Layer 1 networks, have gained traction in the days after bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, reached a record high of $67,016.5 on Oct. 20.
“The connection of crypto against equities and risk-on attitudes is tremendous,” said Danny Chong, CEO of Tranchess, a decentralized asset tracking platform, who forecasts greater increases during the quarter.
“With the lack of negative news, everyone is expecting a bull run,” Chong added. “To determine the depth of the motion, ask what may pull it down?”
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading about $63,078 and has increased by over 117 percent this year, while ether has increased by sixfold.
“Since the market reversal at the end of September,” said Ryan Rabaglia, managing director and global head of trading at digital asset platform OSL, “ether’s strength has been rising in lockstep with BTC and other majors.”
“Ethereum has emerged as the obvious Layer-1 winner for what we expect will be a significant change in a potentially extended market sentiment upswing. Ethereum will also continue to play an important role in the development of the NFT and metaverse ecosystems “He concluded.
Since October, several blockchain tokens, including bitcoin and ether, have risen in value due to a steady stream of news about cryptocurrency adoption by banks, the growth of non-fungible tokens on virtual gaming platforms, the launch of bitcoin futures-based U.S. ETFs, and investor demand for diversification in an uncertain interest rate environment.
Smaller tokens have also received increased attention when Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) renamed itself as Meta in order to focus on establishing the “metaverse,” a shared virtual world.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (OTC:CMWAY), Australia’s largest bank, said on Wednesday that it will be the country’s first to offer retail consumers crypto services.
Assets under management (AUM) in digital investment products increased 45.5 percent in October to a new high of $74.7 billion, according to digital asset researcher CryptoCompare. Total AUM for bitcoin-based products surged 52.2 percent to $55.2 billion, while AUM for ethereum-based funds jumped 30 percent to $15.9 billion, setting new highs in both categories.
