Bitcoin, Ether Scale New Heights Hours Before Coinbase’s Historic Trading Debut

Bitcoin and ether, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, surged to new all-time high prices on Tuesday, hours before the shares of crypto exchange Coinbase are due to start trading on Nasdaq.

• The price for bitcoin (BTC), the oldest cryptocurrency and the largest by market value, set a new record of $64,829.14 before setting back to $64,456.70 at press time, up 2.87% in the last 24 hours based on CoinDesk 20 data.
• Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and the second-largest overall, set a new high-water mark of $2,399.61, before subsiding to $2,373.24, up 7.61% in the last 24 hours.
• The new marks continue a two-day surge by the two cryptocurrencies in the leadup to Coinbase's direct listing, a seminal moment in the history of crypto. Analysts said the extra publicity and investor-relations chatter surrounding the listing might lead to an uptick in the pace of cryptocurrency adoption, or at the very least, speculation.