{"id":123487,"date":"2021-05-03T08:45:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T08:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=123487"},"modified":"2021-05-03T08:45:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T08:45:12","slug":"ethereum-breaks-past-3000-to-quadruple-in-value-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/markets\/ethereum-breaks-past-3000-to-quadruple-in-value-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum breaks past $3,000 to quadruple in value in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
LONDON (Reuters) – Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, with investors betting that ether will be of ever greater use in a decentralised future financial system.<\/p> Ether, the token transacted on the ethereum blockchain, rose 3% on the Bitstamp exchange to $3,144.81 in morning deals in London. It is up 325% for the year so far, easily outpacing a 95% rise in the more popular bitcoin.<\/p>\n (GRAPHIC: Ethereum hits record high, quadruples in value in 2021 – )<\/p>\n In part, the big rally is a catch-up to late 2020 gains in bitcoin, said James Quinn, managing director at Q9 Capital, a Hong Kong cryptocurrency private wealth manager.<\/p>\n It also reflects improvements to the ethereum blockchain, he said, and a growing shift towards \u201cDeFi\u201d, or decentralised finance, which refers to transactions outside traditional banking for which the ethereum blockchain is a crucial platform.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, the rally was really led by bitcoin because as a lot of the institutional investors came into the space, that would be their natural first port of call,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut as the rally has matured over the last six months, you have DeFi and a lot of DeFi is built on ethereum.\u201d<\/p>\n The launch of ether exchange-traded funds in Canada and surging demand for ether wallets to transact non-fungible tokens such as digital art have also pushed up the price.<\/p>\n The ether\/bitcoin cross rate has soared more than 100% this year and hit a 2.5-year high on Sunday, pointing to a degree of rotation into the second-biggest cryptocurrency as investors diversify their exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cSurging DeFi volumes continue to push ethereum prices higher as investors gain confidence in crypto and see ethereum as a safe second-place asset,\u201d said Jehan Chu, managing partner at Hong Kong blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic Capital.<\/p>\n Illustrating the momentum for such new transactions, Bloomberg reported last week that the European Investment Bank plans on issuing a digital bond over the Ethereum blockchain, while JP Morgan plans a managed bitcoin fund.<\/p>\n Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is looking to raise a new fund of as much as $1 billion to invest in cryptocurrencies and crypto start-ups, the Financial Times reported on Friday, underlining interest in the sector.<\/p>\n Bitcoin, the world\u2019s biggest crypto asset with more than $1 trillion in market capitalisation, regained the $50,000 mark last week and hovered around $58,700 on Monday, up about 4% but well below its record high at $64,895.22.<\/p>\n The U.S. dollar was broadly steady. [FRX\/]<\/p>\n