Ether scales $4,600 to record high, bitcoin trails

Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, hit an all-time high on Wednesday reaching as high as $4,643, catching up with bitcoin’s rally, and breaching the previous day’s $4,600 and marking a 10 percent weekly gain.

“Since the market reversal at the end of September, ether’s strength has been moving in stride with BTC and other majors,” said Ryan Rabaglia, managing director and global head of trading at digital asset platform OSL.

“Ethereum has been the clear winner of the Layer-1s for what we believe will be a substantial shift in a potentially prolonged market sentiment uplift. Ethereum will also continue to play a major role in the NFT and metaverse ecosystem build out,” he said.

In addition, the news regarding cryptocurrency adoption by banks, as well as the growth of non-fungible tokens (NFT) on virtual gaming platforms, the launch of Bitcoin futures-based U.S. ETFs and the need for investors to diversify in an uncertain interest rate environment, have risen many blockchain tokens, including bitcoin and ether, since October.

There is also growing interest in smaller tokens after Facebook rebranded itself to Meta to focus on creating a “metaverse,” a shared virtual environment.

On the other hand, Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said on Wednesday that it will become the first bank in the country to offer crypto services to retail customers.

Assets under management (AUM) in digital investment products rose 45.5 percent to a record high of $74.7 billion in October, according to digital asset researcher CryptoCompare. As of time of writing, Ether stands at a $4,582 according to CoinDesk.