London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Aug 28, 2025

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

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
×