Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, soared to a new all-time high over the weekend, reaching nearly $5,000 for the first time since 2021. The surge shows that ether is now leading the crypto market, even as its bigger rival, bitcoin, has started to stumble.
On Sunday afternoon, ether’s price hit a record $4,954.81. Meanwhile, bitcoin, which hit its own record high earlier in the month, has been falling. At one point, it erased all the gains from its recent rally, dropping to its lowest level in weeks.
So what’s behind Ether’s big moment? A few key factors are at play. First, there’s a growing sense of regulatory clarity around ether, which is giving investors more confidence. On top of that, new ether ETFs are attracting a steady stream of money, and a new wave of companies are starting to buy up ether and hold it as a long-term asset. Just this weekend, the company Bitmine Immersion Technologies bought $45 million worth of the cryptocurrency.
“The buyers are finally bigger than the sellers,” said Ben Kurland, CEO of the crypto research platform DYOR. He pointed to the new ETFs and the growing number of companies treating ether as a treasury asset as a “stickier form of demand than retail speculation.”
For weeks, ether has been outperforming bitcoin, and this new record high is the clearest sign yet that the balance of power in the crypto world might be shifting.
