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 around $3,200 on Monday, marking an 11% intraday growth, according to CoinMarketCap. The weekly rise reportedly totaled 30%. On a year-to-date basis, ether has now quadrupled in value compared to bitcoin's 100% rise.

Ether’s market value reached $368 billion following the latest growth, overtaking such corporations as The Walt Disney Company, Nestle and Bank of America in terms of total market cap.

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.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section