$236: Ethereum’s Ether Token Hits New All-Time Price High

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31 May 2017

The price of ether, the token that powers the ethereum blockchain, reached a new all-time high today, rising to what has become the latest in a string of record advancements.

Ether’s price rose to as much as $236.97 at roughly 12:15 UTC, an increase of more than 35% in 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. At press time, the alternative asset protocol had fallen back very slightly, trading at an average of $235.01.

The price boost comes during an overall surge in the price of ether, climbing roughly 1,400% over the last three months amid the growing visibility of ethereum and a broader mainstream interest in cryptocurrencies.

Markets are also being buoyed by word of additional exchange listings. Huobi, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in China, started offering trading in the CNY/ETH pair. The major Chinese exchange spoke to ether’s potential, asserting that the cryptocurrency could surpass bitcoin in several areas in its official announcement.

While ether has been making progress toward greater adoption, its price has surged as cryptocurrencies in general have been drawing significant inflows, causing the total market cap of these assets to surpass $91bn earlier this month.

Amid this broader trend, ether has been differentiating itself from other cryptocurrencies, as its market cap recently surpassed 50% that of bitcoin’s, a historically high figure.

By contrast, ether’s market cap was less than 5% of the market cap of bitcoin at the start of the year.

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