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Ether is closing in on an all-time high. The cryptocurrency, one of many alternatives to bitcoin, rallied as much as 17% on Tuesday to an intraday high of $1,439, according to data from industry site CoinDesk. That’s just shy of the $1,448 record ether hit in early 2018, when major cryptocurrencies led by bitcoin climbed to new heights before slumping sharply later in the year. Ether, the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, has almost doubled year to date. Bitcoin has been in the spotlight for several months now, thanks to a blistering rally that saw it notch fresh highs. The cryptocurrency shot up close to $42,000 a couple weeks ago, but has declined since and was last trading at $36,980.
It’s still up almost 30% so far this year, and has surged more than 800% from its 2020 low in March. Bitcoin bulls say its rise has been helped by increased institutional buying and the perception that it is an uncorrelated safe haven asset akin to gold. On the other hand, skeptics in the traditional financial world — like economist Nouriel Roubini and strategist David Rosenberg — view it as a speculative bubble.