On Thursday, Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, extended a breakaway rally to a new record high of $3,616.10, gathering momentum as investors diverted focus from its main rival.
On the Bitstamp Exchange ether was last up about 4.0% at $3,568.92. Bitcoin was down 0.3% at $57,353.03 and about 11% below its record intraday high at $64,895.22 set on April 14.
Ether, the token traded over the ethereum blockchain, topped $3,000 for the first time on Monday. It is up more than 385% this year, compared with 96% for bitcoin.
The rise is in part a spillover from flows into bitcoin, which has grown in stature as big-name investors from Elon Musk’s carmaker Tesla to Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller bought in.
“Ethereum has been able to maintain its positive momentum, a crushing series of all-time highs in the past week,” said Konstantin Anissimov, executive director at cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO.
