[Bitcoin Now] Ethereum Nears All-Time High, Surpasses $4,500 Mark

Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, continued its upward trend and surpassed the $4,500 mark.

Reuters Yonhap News

According to Coinbase, a U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, as of 3:18 p.m. Eastern Time on the 12th (local time), the price of one Ethereum reached $4,501. This is the first time Ethereum has crossed the $4,500 threshold in three years and eight months, since December 2021. With this surge, Ethereum is now approaching its all-time high of $4,721, recorded in November of the same year on Coinbase.

This price increase is attributed to large-scale purchases made as part of corporate financial strategies. On the 11th, U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a record daily inflow of $1 billion, the largest ever, surpassing even Bitcoin ETFs.

Bitmain Immersion Technologies (BMNR), which holds the largest amount of Ethereum globally, announced plans to raise up to $20 billion in additional funds for further purchases, on top of the $5 billion worth of Ethereum it has already acquired.

Axel Rudolph, Chief Technical Analyst at the online trading platform IG, stated, "The fact that Ethereum has risen more than 4% above Bitcoin indicates that the market is focusing on Ethereum's unique and powerful momentum." He added, "Following the release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), institutional inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs and increased confidence in network upgrades are proving far more attractive to investors than the macroeconomic factors supporting Bitcoin."

CoinDesk, a cryptocurrency-focused media outlet, noted that market investors are increasingly referring to Ethereum as "Wall Street's blockchain," highlighting its central role in asset tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi) platform operations, and payment systems similar to traditional financial infrastructure.

David Siemer, co-founder and CEO of Wave Digital Assets, also commented, "There is growing interest among institutions and investors in viewing Ethereum not simply as the 'second-largest cryptocurrency,' but as the core infrastructure for the DeFi, tokenization, and smart contract ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.