Ether Leads Crypto Rally with Institutional Inflows and Tokenization Boost
Ether (ETH) surged 5% over the past 24 hours, outperforming bitcoin (BTC) as fresh institutional demand and the growing adoption of tokenized assets push Ethereum toward record highs.
Bitcoin maintained its footing above $109,500 during early Asian trading, recovering from last week’s profit-taking. However, the spotlight remains on ether, which has seen heightened volatility and record volumes in ETH-based products on several exchanges.
“Ethereum is increasingly recognized as a compelling investment, especially as it remains below its all-time high while bitcoin hovers near its peak,” said Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE. He highlighted Ethereum’s expanding ecosystem for tokenizing real-world assets, such as stocks and government securities, forecasting a potential breach of ETH’s previous high before year-end.
Recent ETF inflows into ether topped $800 million in the past two weeks, far outpacing bitcoin’s ETF inflows, according to SoSoValue. This has driven the gap in implied volatility between ether and bitcoin to its highest since late 2022, signaling expectations of greater price swings for ETH.
Kraken’s ether perpetual contracts hit a record open interest of 30,000 ETH, signaling increased speculative interest, said Kraken’s Head of Derivatives, Alexia Theodorou. Yet, she cautioned that the market still lacks a clear directional bias.
Other altcoins joined the rally: Solana (SOL) gained 4.7%, Cardano (ADA) rose 3.3%, and XRP climbed 2%. Dogecoin (DOGE) rebounded 3.7%, erasing prior losses.
Investors now await U.S. CPI data, which could influence Federal Reserve policies and market risk sentiment ahead of the upcoming meeting.
