What a Friday for the crypto world! Digital currencies saw a massive surge, making some serious noise. Ethereum, a major player, almost hit the $5,000 mark. Binance Coin (BNB) celebrated a first, crossing $900. Solana (SOL) also bounced back nicely, climbing past $200. It was a day of big wins for many smaller coins, riding a wide-ranging rally.
Ethereum truly stole the spotlight, reaching its highest price ever this past Friday. This happened as the entire crypto market pushed many altcoins to new records. Ethereum (ETH) climbed to an unheard-of $4,891 in the afternoon, Eastern Time. This was a jump of more than 13% in just one day, according to CoinMarketCap data. This move topped its previous record price of $4,880, which it hit back in November 2021.
Ethereum’s record market value now sits at $590 billion. This places the digital currency among the top 25 biggest assets worldwide. It’s now valued higher than payment giant Mastercard and streaming powerhouse Netflix. ETH has been on a quick rise in recent weeks. This surge largely comes from renewed interest from big institutional investors. Public companies are also buying more Ethereum for their treasuries.
Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen record inflows. They attracted almost $8 billion since July, showing strong institutional interest. Other things are also helping, like clearer rules for stablecoins. The growth of tokenization among big banks is also playing a part. These factors are all pushing the price higher.
ETH’s total gain this month is now 33.5%. This puts it well ahead of Bitcoin (BTC). Bitcoin, in contrast, lost 1.6% over the same period. It traded around $116,600 when this article was written.
Powell’s Comments Light the Fuse
The rally got a big boost from comments made by Jerome Powell. He is the Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED). Powell spoke on Friday at the Jackson Hole symposium. He hinted that the central bank would likely cut interest rates in September. This is what traders had hoped for, and it brought relief to markets as the weekend approached.
Hopes for a rate cut had started to fade in recent days. This caused a negative reaction across global markets, including cryptocurrencies. Just last Thursday, Bitcoin had fallen back to $112,000. This was after hitting an all-time high of $124,000 a week earlier. Ethereum also briefly slipped below $4,100. But now, positive economic news has given the market a fresh look. Many other top altcoins have also hit new highs.
Binance Coin (BNB) was another star, reaching a new all-time high of $900. Its price went up more than 6% in 24 hours. Chainlink (LINK) also soared over 10%. It hit a new 2025 peak of $27.7, gaining more than 26% in a week, according to data sources. Solana (SOL), meanwhile, jumped back to $200 with a 10% rise on the day. Its yearly gains are now at a solid 40%. Even Dogecoin (DOGE), the biggest dog-themed memecoin, saw double-digit percentage gains daily, trading at $0.24.
The total cryptocurrency market value now stands at $4 trillion. This is a 6% increase in the last 24 hours. This sudden jump in prices led to a cascade of liquidations in the crypto derivatives market. A massive $690.47 million was liquidated. This meant 164,080 individual traders suddenly had their short and long positions closed. Ethereum faced the biggest hit, with $285 million in short liquidations in just 24 hours, according to Coinglass data.
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