Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain network, has exceeded its all-time high so far, according to historical data from some important exchanges.
Prices rose to $ 1,439.33 on Tuesday – more than Bitstamp’s record high of $ 1,420. Coinbase and Bitfinex have previous record spikes that are listed at roughly the same level. At the time of going to press, it had not exceeded the all-time high CoinDesk average of global exchange rates of $ 1,448.
The previous record was set two years ago on January 13, 2018. The digital asset is up nearly 12% today.
Ether initially hinted at an imminent rally to new highs earlier this month, but fell victim to a brief market correction triggered by Bitcoin’s retreat from $ 40,000 to $ 30,000 last week.
The cryptocurrency surpassed its previous bull market high nearly two months after Bitcoin topped its record price in December 2017, hitting a new high above $ 41,900 earlier this month.
While Ether has left Bitcoin behind on its way to new highs for life, it has outperformed the top cryptocurrency by 92% since the start of the year. Bitcoin is up 27% so far this year.
Ether has also increased by well over 1000% since the first public sale of ETH in 2015 Messari.
Ethereum is a blockchain for decentralized applications (Dapps) such as forecast markets or trading venues. Dapps work similarly to normal applications, but inherit features from blockchain-based technologies such as censorship resistance.
The Ethereum blockchain was co-founded and originally described by Russian-Canadian developer Vitalik Buterin, who remains the project’s best-known personality.
Decentralized funding (DeFi) is widely viewed as the best use case for Ethereum to date. DeFi markets enable automated borrowing, trading and lending to anyone with an Internet connection without authorization. The market recently exceeded a total of around $ 22 billion (TVL) – a metric that is similar to Assets Under Management (AUM).
DeFi applications also usually have their own tokens, which are generally based on Ethereum. This market has seen a second bull run of its own after growing popularity last summer.
In the long term, the proponents of Ethereum position the blockchain project as a censorship-resistant base layer that works in the background of the Internet of tomorrow. This concept is commonly referred to as Web 3.0 and will connect today’s social networks with integral monetary systems.
Ethereum took a significant step towards this goal on December 1st with the release of a new blockchain, the Beacon Chain. This upgrade is part one of three in a series of transitions to upgrade the current Ethereum network to a blockchain that can manage an entire financial system.