Ethereum Reaches Record High Price After Almost Four Years

Ethereum reached a new historic price on Friday, breaking a nearly four-year record following significant gains driven by increasing ETH treasuries, a more favorable regulatory climate, and heightened interest from traditional financial institutions.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization surged 15% in the last 24 hours, hitting $4,879, exceeding its previous high of $4,878 from November 2021, according to CoinGecko.

ETH has more than doubled in value over the past two months, surpassing even Bitcoin as investors flock to exchange-traded funds. After nearly reaching a new record on August 14, ETH’s price fell below $4,100 earlier this week alongside a market dip.

However, on Friday, the overall crypto market experienced a surge following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting a potential interest rate cut, with Ethereum jumping nearly 8% within an hour after those remarks.

“It’s ETH’s time to shine: record inflows into ETH ETFs and the launch of significant ETH digital asset treasuries, combined with overall ecosystem successes—Circle and Bullish IPOs, and Trump’s executive order facilitating digital assets in 401(k)s,” stated Brian Huang, co-founder of on-chain automation platform Glider, in an email to Decrypt. “Jerome Powell’s dovish comments today were the final catalyst ETH required.”

Huang further noted: “The sentiment for ETH is robust. Layer-2 solutions like Base continue to thrive, and ETH maintains the most DeFi liquidity—nine times greater than the next competitor, Solana. We are still in the early phases for ETH, the global settlement layer.”

The recent boom in Ethereum has partly been driven by increasing ETF interest. Just last week, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted over $1 billion in a single day for the first time since their July 2024 launch, although these funds have been more volatile than Bitcoin ETFs.

These gains align with the rise of companies focusing heavily on Ethereum. Recently, Bitcoin miner BitMine Immersion increased its Ethereum holdings to over $7 billion, while SharpLink Gaming, having shifted from online marketing, has amassed more than $3.5 billion in ETH.

Such companies are emulating Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which began acquiring Bitcoin in 2020, motivating others to extend their investments into Ethereum, Solana, and BNB.

“There are numerous positive factors supporting ETH at this time,” remarked Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at crypto-focused financial services firm FRNT Financial. “Record inflows into ETH ETFs and aggressive purchasing from treasury firms are creating significant demand.”

“Additionally, Ethereum is central to multiple key trends attracting traditional financial institutions, such as the tokenization of conventional assets and stablecoins. These themes are crucial, and Ethereum is positioning itself as a strong candidate to accommodate new capital and interest,” he added.

Ethereum also received a lift this month when the SEC clarified its stance on staking, a clarification that users had long sought from the regulator.

The former Biden administration had maintained restrictive policies against this feature, while under President Trump, the regulator indicated that liquid staking services can reward customers with staking returns without needing to register.

Furthermore, the passage of the GENIUS Act last month has improved Ethereum’s prospects, establishing a U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoin issuance. The developers of such projects predominantly utilize the Ethereum blockchain for their initiatives, with most stablecoins tied to the U.S. dollar’s value.

“Ethereum’s new record high is a clear indicator of the demand for crypto extending beyond Bitcoin,” said Samir Kerbage, chief investment officer at crypto asset management firm Hashdex, in a message to Decrypt. “As Ethereum and other smart contract platforms furnish the infrastructure for many of crypto’s mature applications, like stablecoins and tokenization, we expect strong demand for this emerging asset class to persist.”

The likelihood of Ethereum surpassing $5,000 this year has surged recently on Myriad Markets, which now shows an approximately 85% chance that the token will reach that milestone by 2025.

(Disclosure: Myriad is a prediction market and engagement platform developed by Dastan, the parent company of the editorially independent Decrypt.)

In a recent note, U.K. bank Standard Chartered increased its Ethereum price target to $25,000 by 2028, a significant change from its March prediction of a structural decline for the second-largest crypto.

“We have revised our price forecasts upward as the backdrop for ETH has dramatically improved in recent months,” stated the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick.

Editor’s note: This story was amended post-publication to include additional comments.