Ethereum, the second-largest digital coin by market value, jumped 11.2% on Friday to reach a new all-time high of $1,743 at around 10:30 a.m. ET. According to CNBC, the big driver of the ether surge and other smaller digital currencies was the momentum for bitcoin in recent months.
- Ether’s rise comes after bitcoin, the primary cryptocurrency, reached a record high close to $42,000 last month.
- Bitcoin more than quadrupled in price in 2020 and has gained 29% since the start of 2021, while ether is up 129% year to date.
- Ether has been rising steadily this week as investors await the highly-anticipated launch of ether futures contracts from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week.
- Simon Peters, a crypto asset analyst, believes the move by the CME will spark further buying of ether by new entrants since it provides sophisticated investors with a way to hedge their risk against positions on underlying assets.
- Peters, nonetheless, does not expect a major impact on ether’s spot prices as its futures will be cash-settled.
- Analysts believe that futures and other crypto-focused derivatives products will give institutional investors more confidence to invest in the digital coins.
Ethereum is currently gaining. ETHUSD is up 9.51%
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