By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – The recent outperformance of cryptocurrency Ethereum continued on Wednesday as the market cap breached $500bln for the first time.
The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap hit a new record high above $4,300 which lifted its market cap above the key threshold.
Since breaching $500bln in market cap, Ethereum has pulled back slightly although still trades higher by 6.5% over the last 24 hours and has gained more than 27% in the latest week.
The rally in Ethereum and stagnation in Bitcoin will no doubt cause some to speculate whether the “Flippening” will occur any time soon. The “Flippening” was a term coined to describe the moment when the market cap of Ethereum overtakes the market cap of Bitcoin. However, there is still a long way to go for Ethereum to catch its big brother. The market cap of Bitcoin currently stands at $1.06tln.
There has been no fresh news behind today’s rally in Ethereum but the recent themes continue to dominate, such as the increase in NFT sales and the more practical uses on the Ethereum network.
As mentioned previously, the European Investment Bank sold its first digital bond using the Ethereum network, which some have viewed as further evidence that major financial institutions will continue to invest in cryptocurrency projects.
Yesterday, eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) announced they would begin selling NFTs on their platform. However, the company said that payments will still be in US Dollars, rather than Ethereum. Nevertheless, the company's CEO recently said that they would be open to accepting cryptocurrencies in the future.
Being in unchartered territory, the next key level to the upside for Ethereum will likely be $4,500 before any attempt to claim $5,000.