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By the time of writing, ETH has set a new ATH at over $2,797 with a market cap of over $320 billion.
While the leading digital asset Bitcoin is famous for being equated to gold, Ethereum (ETH) has now been able to overtake the market cap of another precious metal. Per available data, ETH is now the 33rd most valuable asset in the world, surpassing platinum, a highly valued metal on its way up.
Ether was able to achieve this when it broke its previous ATH and setting a new record above the $2700 mark on Wednesday. This brought its market cap to a total of about $315 billion which is about $12 billion higher than that of platinum’s.
By the time of writing, ETH has set another ATH at over $2,797 with a market cap of over $320 billion.
This is quite notable considering the fact that there have been complaints from different quarters about how the Ethereum’s network is becoming expensive and congested, as evidenced by high gas fees and its low scalability.
Developers of its network have, however, tried to correct these issues through several planned Ethereum Improvement Proposals for the Crypto network. Apart from that the level of optimism surrounding the network’s future has also brought its value to a record peak. This is largely thanks to the strong bullish market and the growing awareness and adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi) by the public.
ETH Is Beating Platinum Even in Its Best Year
Platinum, derived from the Spanish term “little silver”, is a highly ductile silvery-white metal denser than gold; this increased density makes it more expensive than gold is. That, and the fact that the global price of gold recently stalled, has driven many investors from gold towards platinum as a store of value recently. Platinum is having the best year yet amongst all the traded precious metals, with positive returns while the other metals have declined.
Platinum has its market cap estimated from a cumulative analysis of its mining and production from 1900. Firms like Statistica and the Johnson Matthey Technology Review maintain the review of Platinums records, and the general estimate is about 250 million ounces of the precious metal. This cumulative quantity equates to about $303 billion.
On the other hand, Ethereum continues to attract users, with several crypto platforms and services launching on the network, it is no surprise the cryptocurrency has gained over 350% since the beginning of this year. Ethereum’s gains come with a market dominance of 15.1%, eating into the market dominance of Bitcoin which fell below 50% for the first time.
Market analyst expect that the second largest crypto asset by market cap would continue to see an increase in its value especially as crypto assets become mainstream and DeFi is embraced.