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Ethereum breaks past $3,000 to quadruple in value in 2021

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/05/03/ethereum.jpg"/><figcaption>The photo shows a physical imitation of a Ethereum cryptocurrency in Dortmund, western Germany, on January 27, 2020. <em>Ina Fassbender, Agence France-Presse</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>SINGAPORE - Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, as investors bet that ether will be of ever greater use in a decentralized future financial system.</p><p>Ether, the token transacted on the ethereum blockchain, rose 3% on the Bitstamp exchange to $3,051.99 by lunchtime in Asia. It is up more than 300% for the year so far, easily outpacing a 95% rise in the more popular bitcoin.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/30/21/visa-moves-to-allow-payment-settlements-using-cryptocurrency">Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency</a></li></ul><p>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><p>It also reflects improvements to the ethereum blockchain, he said, and a growing shift towards &quot;DeFi&quot;, or decentralized finance, which refers to transactions outside traditional banking for which the ethereum blockchain is a crucial platform.</p><p>&quot;At 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,&quot; Quinn said.</p><p>&quot;But as the rally has matured over the last six months, you have DeFi and a lot of DeFi is built on ethereum.&quot;</p><p>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><p>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><p>&quot;Surging DeFi volumes continue to push ethereum prices higher as investors gain confidence in crypto and see ethereum as a safe second-place asset,&quot; said Jehan Chu, managing partner at Hong Kong blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic Capital.</p><p>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><p>Bitcoin, the world&#x27;s biggest crypto asset with more than $1 trillion in market capitalization, regained the $50,000 mark last week and hovered around $58,000 on Monday, up about 3% but well below its record high at $64,895.22.</p><p>The US dollar was broadly steady.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/04/27/21/bitcoin-record-outflow-coinshares-cryptocurrency">Bitcoin hit with record weekly outflow as rally ebbs: CoinShares data</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/szoX80-a9q8?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, as investors bet that ether will be of ever greater use in a decentralized future financial system.</p>

Cryptocurrency ether broke past $3,000 on Monday to set a new record high in a dazzling rally that has outshone the bigger bitcoin, as investors bet that ether will be of ever greater use in a decentralized future financial system.