Ethereum price soars as institutional players continue to back digital assets
With leading asset manager BlackRock recently lending its support to the crypto market, the value of Ethereum has risen quite drastically.
- Ethereum’s market dominance currently lies at 18%, while its overall valuation stands at $374 billion.
- Bored Ape Yacht Club’s (BAYC) ApeCoin has seen its value increase by a whopping 50% since March 21.
- ETH’s gains over the past 12 months currently stand at approximately 100%.
Ethereum (ETH) has been flying high in recent weeks. The altcoin has registered solid gains in excess of 18% between March 11 and 24. At press time, ETH is trading at $3,113.
The ongoing spike in ETH’s value, which has seen the currency surge past the all-important $3,000 psychological threshold for the first time in over a month, can be attributed to rising inflation fears and growing consumer interest in the crypto market.
For example, in a letter to his firm’s shareholders earlier this week, Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, noted that as global geopolitical tensions continue to escalate and inflation rates surge, more folks will most likely continue to turn towards digital assets.
Markets across the board are making minor comebacks. For example, Canada reported a 3.2% increase in its retail sales over the month of January, much higher than its market expectation of 2.4%.
The United Kingdom’s consumer price index (CPI) — which serves as a good metric for gauging growing inflation — also came in at a multi-decade high of 6.2% year over year even though pundits had expected the metric to be at 5.9%.
ApeCoin up 50% over the last 7 days
ApeCoin (APE), the native crypto token associated with the BAYC ecosystem, has continued to forge a massive comeback over the last week or so. The currency’s value exploded by more than 50% as a result of the NFT project raising $450 million from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. This brings its total valuation to a whopping $4 billion.
On March 24 alone, APE’s value increased by approximately 8%, bringing the token’s valuation to around $14.50 per piece. The currency’s price is at just $9.50 at the start of the week.
Exxon’s energy excesses to power firm’s crypto mining operations
Infamous energy company Exxon Mobil is reportedly trying out a new program designed to utilize its excess energy produce — emanating from its gas rigs — to power its crypto mining operations. A report released earlier this week said that the multinational firm has already signed agreements with Crusoe Energy to harness excess gas from oil wells situated in North Dakota so as to operate its mining gear.
Exxon had launched a pilot program for the aforementioned idea back in Q1 2021 and is now looking to expand its scope to a number of countries, including Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana and Germany.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner’s guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
