Ether market cap bigger than Disney & Nestle as world’s second-biggest crypto breaks past $3,000

Bitcoin’s closest rival, ether, has hit $3,000 for the first time ever. The token, transacted on the ethereum blockchain, reached the milestone on several major exchanges, including Bybit, Coinbase and BitMEX.

The world’s second-biggest digital currency was trading at $3,144 on Monday, marking an 8.5% intraday growth, according to CoinMarketCap. The weekly rise reportedly totaled 25.5%. On a year-to-date basis, ether is now up over 400% compared to bitcoin's 95% rise.

Ether’s market value reached $357 billion following the latest growth, overtaking such corporations as The Walt Disney Company, Nestle and Bank of America in terms of total market cap.

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The recent growth has been attributed to improvements made to the ethereum blockchain, as well as a growing shift towards decentralized finance (DeFi). DeFi refers to transactions outside common banking where the ethereum blockchain is a crucial platform.

“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,” James Quinn, managing director at Q9 Capital, a Hong Kong cryptocurrency private wealth manager, told Bloomberg. 

“But as the rally has matured over the last six months, you have DeFi and a lot of DeFi is built on ethereum,” he added.

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