The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, soared to an all-time high above $4,400 per coin and set a new all-time high on bullish sentiment around the most used blockchain network on Friday.
The digital asset rose 4.8% to $4,459.20, surpassing its previous record of $4,379.62 in May. As of 18:41 UTC on Friday, October 29, the token was trading at about $4,387 per coin, with other tokens like Binance Coin and Solana rallying. Ether has reached over $520 billion in market capitalization.
Ether is at the heart of the Ethereum subsidiary network, the dominant blockchain used for thousands of decentralized applications. The system received an additional boost this week following a successful update designed to make it faster and more energy-efficient.
Meanwhile, some analysts have pointed to a link between the rise in popularity of the Shiba Inu coin and the record for Ether.
The EIP-1559, otherwise, Ethereum upgrade, was rolled out in August - and it burns off some of the fees paid to miners, cutting net release based on network usage, according to Sam Doctor, chief strategy officer and head of research at BitOoda, a regulated crypto brokerage.
"So if Shiba Inu generates a lot of traffic, it increases network congestion and contributes to more ETH being burned. That slows the net growth in ETH in circulation. Tighter ETH supply combined with high network usage likely drove Ether's price up," said Doctor.
Bitcoin is up about 40% this month, hitting a record high of nearly $67,000 following the debut of the first Bitcoin-related ETF in the United States. The world's largest digital currency rose 1.6% in New York trading to $62,405.
