ETH Tops $3k USD for the First Time as Mainstream Adoption Blasts Higher
ETH, Ethereum Network’s native token, reached the $3k milestone on May 2nd, after a week of reaching new all-time highs. In addition to a jump in prices, ETH has been the subject of interest by institutional and private investors.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has experienced gains in the value of 37% over the last 7 days , which reflects the recovery the coin experienced after falling as low as $2.1k during the last week of April amid the crypto market crash.
At press time, ETH has set an all-time high of $3,058 which is likely to be surpassed if the trend observed during the last week continues, which had Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms running on the Ethereum network as its major driver.
With a market capitalization of over $350 billion, Ethereum has continued to experience incredible growth over the past year despite the increased congestion and gas prices it experienced ever since the DeFi Summer of 2020, gaining more than 1300% in value.
While some developers and projects have moved to other networks that promise to provide greater stability, performance, and reduced fees, the current upgrade process to Ethereum 2.0 has allowed the Ethereum Network to continue its reign over the blockchain ecosystem under the promise of a better future once the upgrade is deployed.
European Investment Bank Sold Digital Bonds On Ethereum
According to Bloomberg, the European Investment Bank (EIB) partnered with Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, and Banco Santander, some of the most important financial institutions in the world, to sell over €100 million worth of bonds on the Ethereum Network.
The move by the European Union’s investment bank took place during the last week of April and had a noticeable impact on the performance of the network’s cryptocurrency, marking the rally that resulted in the reach of the $3k mark.
The decision by the lending arm of the European Union and the other financial institutions that participated in the process is a reflection of the increasing interest from private and governmental institutions in ETH.
They are taking advantage of the growing cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, an interest that also can be seen in the race for the development of their digital currencies.
Back in November of 2020, China’s Construction Bank (CCB) partnered with Fusang, a digital asset exchange, to issue over $3 billion in debt securities using blockchain
Ethereum Classic Is Following Ethereum’s Steps
Ethereum Classic, one of the two networks resulting from the split of the original Ethereum Network, has been a less popular alternative to Ethereum over the past years. Despite this, it has continued to be in the top 50 of the cryptocurrency ranking by market capitalization with over $5 billion in market capitalization.
Just like its sibling, Ethereum Classic has experienced high levels of increase in value over the past week with a %56 increase, which allowed it to reach a new all-time high of $44.07 on May 2nd.
The project’s website was down at the time when the all-time high was set, with a Tweet suggesting that an increased spike of interest was the main reason behind the disruption.
$ETC creates new all time high, even while website is down. pic.twitter.com/FL1kE561jz
— Ethereum Classic (@eth_classic) May 2, 2021
The surge in interest and subsequent traffic to the site was detected as a Denial Of Service Attack by the Content delivery network, which triggered security measures despite being a false alarm.
The success experienced by both Ethereum and Ethereum classic over the weekend was also mirrored by most of the projects in the top 15 by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko data.
Despite the crypto market crash experienced late in April, currencies like ETH, XRP, DOGE, UNI, BCH, and XLM have all experienced gains between 30% and 55% over the past 7 years, with experts believing it could represent the start of a new bull run soon.
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